When building a modern data centre or enterprise network, you must make the right choice when it comes to switch hardware. Branded switches are the obvious choice for stability, rich technical support and a mature ecosystem. White-box switches are the new market leaders with their flexible configurations, lower costs and higher customisability. This article will help you make the right choice between brand-name and white-box switches. We will start with the key factors such as cost, flexibility, functional requirements and technical support to help you find the solution that best suits your business needs.
Branded Switches: A Professional Overview
Branded switches are typically manufactured by renowned network equipment providers such as Cisco, Huawei, Juniper, and HPE. These switches offer a tightly integrated solution, combining hardware and proprietary network operating systems developed by the same company. This integration ensures high stability and reliability, making them a preferred choice for enterprises that prioritize a seamless network experience. Although they often come with a higher price tag, the investment is justified by the renowned brand reputation, stable performance, and robust technical support they offer. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of opting for branded switches:
Advantages of Branded Switches
Reliability and Maturity:
Branded switches undergo extensive testing and certification, covering both hardware and software to ensure exceptional stability, performance, and compatibility—essential for enterprises with strict network reliability requirements. With proven market validation, these switches and their operating systems have been widely adopted across industries for years, earning broad recognition and accumulating valuable experience.
Integrated Operating System and Features:
Brand-name switch operating systems, such as Cisco IOS and Juniper JunOS, provide a comprehensive suite of integrated functionalities, including advanced routing protocols, traffic control, Quality of Service (QoS), security measures, and automation capabilities—all optimized for peak hardware performance. These branded switches also offer extensive protocol support and compatibility, ensuring seamless interoperability with devices from other brands through their robust support of standard and advanced features.
Security and Compliance:
Branded switches are designed with high security standards and include strong protection mechanisms like Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Access Control Lists (ACL), and hardware-level encryption to safeguard networks against external threats. They also typically comply with various industry standards and regulations, which is critical for sectors with stringent compliance needs, such as finance and healthcare.
Comprehensive Technical Support:
Prominent brands offer comprehensive technical support, including hardware repairs, firmware updates, professional training, and 24/7 assistance, which significantly reduces operational risks for enterprises with limited IT resources. Additionally, these vendors provide regular software updates and security patches, ensuring devices remain current with the latest features and security enhancements.
Disadvantages of Branded Switches
High Cost:
Hardware and Software Costs: Branded switches are generally more expensive, particularly high-performance and high-end models. Additionally, licensing fees for proprietary operating systems and maintenance can significantly increase the overall cost.
Long-Term Lock-In: Choosing branded equipment often locks customers into a specific vendor ecosystem. Future upgrades and expansions typically require purchasing products from the same brand, which can increase long-term costs.
Cost Comparison: Branded switches can be approximately 1-3 times more expensive than white-box switches.
Closed Operating System Provides Limited Flexibility:
The proprietary nature of brand-name switch operating systems means users cannot access or modify the source code, limiting the ability to customize network functionality based on specific business needs. This restricts network architecture flexibility.
Furthermore,unlike NOS solutions based on open-source communities, which thrive on collective innovation and rapid updates, traditional brand NOS often lacks the comprehensive features and agility found in open-source counterparts. As a result, users may find themselves missing out on the latest advancements and best practices that an open-source community can provide. In particular, when enterprises require new functions and capabilities, they are constrained to a passive waiting period until the next update cycle, which may not align with their immediate needs. Moreover, manufacturers of large brands tend to refrain from customising the functions they offer to a specific customer.
White-Box Switches: A Growing Trend
White-box switches, produced by original equipment manufacturers are not tied to any specific operating system. Users have the freedom to choose and install open-source or commercial network operating systems such as SONiC or Cumulus Linux. The market for white-box and bare-metal switches is expanding rapidly, with sales projected to grow from $17.7 billion in 2023 to $45.11 billion by 2030, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% from 2024 to 2030.White-box switches have gained popularity due to their flexibility, cost advantages, and enhanced innovation and customization capabilities. Let’s explore their advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of White-Box Switches
Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Enterprises:
- Lower Hardware Costs: White-box switches generally offer lower hardware prices due to their design based on standard components, without the added cost of brand premiums. This significantly reduces capital expenditures, especially in large-scale deployments.
- Flexible Operating System Options: Supporting multiple open Network Operating Systems (NOS) like SONiC, Cumulus Linux, and Pica8, white-box switches allow users to choose and switch NOS freely according to their application needs, avoiding proprietary software licensing costs.
- Cost Efficiency: White-box switches are typically half to a third of the cost of branded switches, offering significant price advantages.
Offering a More Stable Performance than Expect:
There is a common misconception that white box switches are of inferior quality to branded alternatives. However, this is not the case.
Firstly, switching chips are the unsung heroes behind stable network performance. They handle the forwarding and switching of data packets, making them pivotal in determining a device’s processing speed and efficiency. Most switch brands rely on commercial ASIC chips from industry giants like Broadcom and Marvell, only a select few, like Cisco and Huawei, developing their own. Interestingly, white box switches often utilize the same commercial chips, leading to comparable forwarding performance across the board.
Secondly,if a brand manufacturer uses commercial chips and their own non-open source software, they do not necessarily provide more capabilities than white box switches. This is because the non-open source software of each brand manufacturer is developed independently, and the features are not as extensive as those based on the open source community. Additionally, their updates are not as rapid.
It is important to note that if a white box switch has the same support capabilities as the manufacturer, it can be considered equivalent to a brand switch.
Accelerated Innovation:
White-box switches, with their open architecture, enable rapid iteration in hardware and software, advancing innovation without relying on traditional network vendors’ product cycles. Many white-box projects are open-source, allowing enterprises to leverage community resources for quick iteration and optimized functionality, bypassing lengthy development timelines.
Ease of Scaling and Automation:
White-box switches are ideal for hyperscale data center environments, supporting centralized management and automated deployment to streamline control over numerous switch nodes. Many white-box Network Operating System (NOS) options also feature standard APIs and are compatible with automation tools like Ansible ,Puppet and Prometheus, enabling simplified network automation, configuration management, and efficient large-scale deployments.
Highly Customizable:
Flexible Hardware Options: Users can select specific functional modules, port types, and bandwidth based on requirements, achieving “as-needed” hardware deployment. White-box manufacturers can meet such custom requests, which is costly to achieve with traditional brands.
Tailored to Business Needs: White-box switches allow for deep customization of NOS, protocols, and features, optimizing network equipment for specific business scenarios. This is ideal for enterprises and service providers needing high flexibility, either by working with open network software providers or through in-house technical teams for custom solutions.
Facilitates Network Disaggregation:
Reduced Vendor Lock-In: White-box switches reduce reliance on single vendors, giving enterprises the flexibility to select hardware and software based on needs, avoiding the high costs of brand equipment and services.
Hardware-Software Disaggregation: White-box switches enable disaggregation of hardware and software, allowing different NOS options on the same hardware for higher flexibility in hardware and software choices.
Broad Ecosystem Compatibility: By supporting various hardware and NOS platforms, white-box switches create an open ecosystem, allowing enterprises to choose optimal product combinations without being constrained by a single vendor’s solutions.
Enhanced Security and Control:
Data and Security Control: In industries like finance and government, white-box switches allow higher control and visibility over the network. Users gain in-depth knowledge of the hardware and software stack, ensuring security compliance with internal standards.
Reduced Security Vulnerability Risks: Custom NOS options can mitigate security risks associated with specific vendors, lowering the likelihood of vulnerabilities and backdoors.
Disadvantages of White-Box Switches
Weaker Technical Support Compared to Traditional Vendors:
- Lack of Unified Support: Initially, white-box switches often involve hardware and software sourced from different vendors. This means troubleshooting might require coordination between multiple providers—hardware issues may necessitate support from the Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), while software issues require assistance from the NOS provider, adding complexity to troubleshooting.But as white box vendors offer more integrated solutions, this problem is being solved.
- Increased Learning Curve: Transitioning from traditional solutions to open networking, particularly with open NOS, demands learning and operating new systems, which can be time-intensive. Unlike traditional vendors that offer extensive support, white-box manufacturers typically expect enterprises to have robust internal technical teams to manage and maintain the network, posing challenges for smaller organizations with limited technical resources.
- No Dedicated Support for Free Open-Source Software: Although free open-source NOS solutions provide abundant resources, they lack dedicated technical support. These open-source projects rely heavily on community collaboration, requiring users to depend on their own technical expertise in the absence of a dedicated support team.This is also why more enterprise versions of open source operating systems are becoming popular, such as the Enterprise SONiC distribution launched by various vendors, because they can provide customers with more technical support and responsiveness.
Perceived Maturity Concerns:
While some perceive open networking as new and untested, white-box switch hardware often originates from mature ODM manufacturers with longstanding partnerships with major brands, ensuring high reliability. Concerns about the compatibility and maturity of open-source NOS are largely unfounded.
Today, many white-box network manufacturers are building comprehensive, one-stop solutions. For instance, Asterfusion, a white-box vendor, has a dedicated team of over 100 professionals focusing on the enterprise version of SONiC and its own hardware production facilities. And provide patient, professional and timely responsive technical services.This ensures customers can rely on experts familiar with both hardware and software for after-sales support. While choosing a free open NOS might be cost-effective, it’s essential to balance this with the need for in-house technical expertise. With the right resources and partnerships, enterprises can harness the benefits of open networks without sacrificing reliability or performance.
White-Box and Branded Switches,How do I choose?
| Comparison Items | White Box Switch | Branded Switch |
| Performance | The switch ASIC/CPU is comparable to those used by brand manufacturers, and the open software features exceed those offered by brand manufacturers. Initially, hardware and software compatibility posed challenges, but as more white-box vendors now offer one-stop solutions, performance is optimized, stability improved, and both hardware and software undergo extensive testing. | Optimised for performance and stability, hardware and software have been extensively tested, performance and stability have been proven in the market for many years. Suitable for enterprise environments with high performance and stability requirements |
| Price | Low cost, typically half the price or less of branded switches for large-scale deployments | Higher cost, including brand premium and higher software licensing fees |
| Openness | Highly open, supports multiple open source network operating systems (such as SONiC, Cumulus Linux, etc.), and users can freely choose OS | Closed proprietary systems usually only support the manufacturer’s own operating system. However, many traditional manufacturers are also embracing open network operating system,like SONiC |
| Flexibility | White box switch is flexible and can support a variety of different systems. It is ideal for companies that require strong customisation and rapid iteration of the environment. new features can also be quickly and flexibly customised and added. | The operating system is tightly integrated with the hardware. Although the flexibility is limited, the system is fully functional and highly stable. |
| Technical Support | Early on, hardware and software required separate support, but now many manufacturers offer one-stop white-box services with standards on par with traditional vendors. Leading providers offer local maintenance, 24/7 support, training, and more. | Providing comprehensive manufacturer support, including local hardware maintenance, 24/7 technical support, training and software updates. |
| Compatibility | Initially, hardware compatibility with open-source OS required effort. Now, as networks mature, white box devices support multiple OS and protocols, making them ideal for mixed-device environments. | Compatible with multiple protocols and widely verified compatibility, suitable for integration with other brand devices |
| Speed of innovation and iteration | With open architecture, rapid iteration allows quick adoption of the latest tech and integration of needed features—perfect for fast-growing enterprises. | Slower iterations due to branded product cycles, but usually with higher stability and reliability after updates |
| Automation Support | Support Ansible, Puppet and other commonly used automation tools and API interfaces, suitable for large-scale network automation management | Built-in automation features, but often less flexible and customisable than white box switches |
| Suitable customers | Ideal for organizations seeking flexible, cost-effective network customization and equipped to handle technical challenges—perfect for cloud computing, internet companies, large-scale deployments, and businesses needing tailored solutions. | Ideal for enterprises that prioritize reliability, stability, and comprehensive support, especially those looking for market-proven solutions and are willing to invest in the brand’s reputation, mature technology, and extensive technical support. |
Key Considerations for Selection:
- Company Needs: Assess your organization’s specific requirements, technical capabilities, budget, and long-term goals.
- Network Stability and Support: If these are top priorities, branded switches are a safer choice.
- Flexibility and Cost Control: If your organization values flexibility, automation, and cost-effectiveness and has a strong technical team to manage the network, white-box switches will be a more appealing option.
Ultimately, the choice between white-box and branded switches will depend on aligning the switch’s capabilities with your organizational needs and resources.There are no good or bad options. There is only the right one for you!
Reference:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/white-box-server-market
