Abstract: Routing on the Internet combines data plane mechanisms for forwarding traffic with control plane protocols for guaranteeing connectivity and optimizing routes (e.g., shortest-paths and load distribution). We propose data-driven connectivity (DDC), a new routing approach that achieves the fundamental connectivity guarantees in the data plane rather than the control plane, while keeping the more complex requirements of route optimization in the control plane. DDC enables faster recovery from failures and easier implementation of control plane optimization.