Transitive synchronization greatly reduces synchronization traffic and allows for larger replica lists.
With transitive synchronization, a server doesn't have to synchronize with all other servers in the replica list. Instead, the server checks a list on the target server for when other servers in the replica list synchronized with each other. If the target server has synchronized with other servers in the list more recently than the source server has, it is not necessary for the source server to synchronize with the other servers in the list.
Transitive synchronization also allows for synchronization to occur in a mixed protocol environment. With mixed protocols, it's not always possible for all servers to communicate with each other; however, if a NetWare* 5* server in your tree is set up to run multiple protocols, transitive synchronization is enabled.