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Understanding the basics of bare-metal switches
Editor's note
As vendors continue to tout networking architectures that decouple software from hardware, bare-metal switches are moving into the spotlight. These switches are built on merchant silicon that may provide fewer features than proprietary chips but enable a lower-cost and more flexible switching alternative. White box switches are poised to be open enough to allow network vendors and users to choose their network operating system, depending on their organization's needs.
Read more about company bare-metal strategies, as well as the difference between bare-metal switches and white-box switching, and the Open Compute project.
1Learn about Big Switch's bare-metal strategy
Big Switch has made the move to bare-metal switches. Read about the company's decision to go with bare-metal, what this means for its SDN strategy, and how company partners are integrating its SDN software into their bare-metal switches.
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Article
Big Switch CEO talks bare-metal switches
Big Switch CEO Doug Murray previews SDN cloud fabric built with white-box switches. Read Now
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Big Switch SDN powered by Dell switches
Dell offers customers an alternative to ODMs by integrating Big Switch SDN software into its bare-metal switches. Read Now
2Facebook's Open Compute project employs bare-metal networking
Facebook's Open Compute project was designed to share more efficient server and data center designs with the IT industry. Learn how the project is incorporating open switches into its initiative and the impact this is having on Linux-based networking.
3Bare-metal switches vs. white-box switching
Are bare-metal switches and white-box switches one and the same? Explore what white-box switches are and how they differ from bare-metal switches.