10GbE & 25GbE Network Switches

High-speed data center switches for server connectivity and leaf-spine fabrics

About 10G/25G Network Switches

10GbE and 25GbE switches are the backbone of modern data center networking. As server workloads demand more bandwidth for east-west traffic (VM-to-VM, container-to-container, storage replication), 1GbE access switches have become a bottleneck. A single NVMe SSD can saturate a 10GbE link, and a GPU server running distributed training needs 25GbE or higher to each node.

The industry is transitioning from 10GbE to 25GbE as the new access/leaf standard. 25GbE uses the same SFP28 form factor and fiber infrastructure as 10GbE SFP+ but delivers 2.5x more bandwidth at only 10-15% higher cost per port. For new deployments, 25GbE is the recommended starting point.

10G/25G Switch Options

  • Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX (48× 25GbE SFP28 + 6× 100GbE) — enterprise data center leaf
  • Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 (36× 100GbE QSFP28) — spine switch, breakout to 4× 25GbE
  • Arista 7050SX3-48YC8 (48× 25GbE + 8× 100GbE) — low-latency leaf, CloudVision ready
  • HPE Aruba 8325-48Y8C (48× 25GbE + 8× 100GbE) — Aruba CX platform, VSX support
  • Juniper QFX5120-48Y (48× 25GbE + 8× 100GbE) — EVPN-VXLAN leaf switch
  • Dell S5248F-ON (48× 25GbE + 4× 100GbE + 2× 100GbE) — open networking (OS10/SONiC)

When designing a leaf-spine fabric, the uplink ratio (leaf-to-spine bandwidth) should be at least 1:2 for general-purpose workloads and 1:1 for storage-heavy environments. Contact our network engineers for leaf-spine design assistance and bulk switch pricing.

Featured 10G/25G Network Switches Products

Browse all 322 10G/25G Network Switches SKUs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I deploy 10GbE or 25GbE switches?

For new deployments, choose 25GbE. The cost difference between 10GbE and 25GbE switches is now minimal (10-15%), and 25GbE provides a clear upgrade path. 25GbE SFP28 ports are backward compatible with 10GbE SFP+ optics, so you can migrate gradually. If you are expanding an existing 10GbE fabric with remaining lifecycle, adding 10GbE switches is still valid — but any greenfield build should start at 25GbE.

What cabling do I need for 10GbE/25GbE switches?

For runs under 5 meters: DAC (Direct Attach Copper) cables — cheapest, lowest latency, no optics needed. For 5-30 meters: AOC (Active Optical Cables) — slightly more expensive, still plug-and-play. For 30-100 meters: SFP+/SFP28 transceivers with OM3/OM4 multimode fiber. For over 100 meters: SFP+/SFP28 LR (Long Range) transceivers with single-mode fiber. DAC cables for short runs save significant cost on optics.

What is a leaf-spine network architecture?

Leaf-spine is a two-tier network topology where every leaf switch connects to every spine switch. Leaf switches connect to servers (north-south) and spine switches provide interconnection between leaf switches (east-west). This ensures consistent, predictable latency between any two servers — always exactly two hops. It is the standard architecture for data centers running virtualization, containers, or distributed storage.

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Network switches, routers, firewalls, NICs, SFP and QSFP transceivers, DAC cables, wireless access points.

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