[jethro_tell]

Also, it's allows loops to be used as multi paths from different points in the net. Say you have a rack at south and north and there is a loop to a rack in the middle. For failover, you'll take any path that is up. But for normal operation, you'd prefer to take the shortest path.

[lima]

Layer 2 technologies like MC-LAG do that as well (though I agree that it's better to route, if possible)