HP has launched open commodity switches for service providers and the web-scale data center market, in partnership with white-label manufacturer Accton.

The stripped-down switches are designed to be bought in bulk for big users, and don’t require HP’s software, instead running a distribution of Linux designed for bare-metal switches, from Cumulus Networks. HP has said they will be certified under the Open Compute commodity hardware standards.

The switches will be made by Accton, but have HP labels on them, making them so-called branded white box or “brite box” switches. The first to arrive will be for 10G/40G spine and 10G leaf data center deployments, with zero-touch OS installation. Later in 2015, HP promises to follow up with 25G/50G/100G switches for higher performance Web scale data centers, as well as some lower-spec 1G switches.

Better supply chain?

Although the whole point of white-label switches is to cut out any expense, and eliminate the kind of “added-value” differentiation which suppliers have built their business around, vendors jumping into this area obviously have to claim some distinctive feature for the new line of switches.

In HP’s case the vendor claims to have a better suply chain, and promises access to its support network, HP Technology Services.

“Today’s announcement underpins our commitment to accelerate the adoption of open networks and provide offerings optimized for web-scale deployments that enable faster time to service,” said Antonio Neri, senior vice president and general manager, HP Enterprise Group.

“Modern data centers need great physical networking using layer 2, layer 3 and overlay architectures,” said JR Rivers, co-founder and CEO, Cumulus Networks. “This open networking approach to web scale data center networks empowers customers.”

The news follows HP’s announcement last year, that it will partner with white label manufacturer FoxConn to make commodity web scale servers.

The switches will arrive in March.