Just ran across a stat about network switch failure rates that caught me off guard

I was reading through a datasheet from a major vendor last night and saw that their average switch failure rate sits around 0.5% in the first year. That sounds low until you realize that in a 200 switch deployment, that means one switch could go down every single year just from manufacturing defects. I had always assumed those failures were way rarer, like one in a thousand or better. But then I dug into some forum posts from guys running data centers and saw stories of whole stacks dropping offline after 14 months. Now I'm double checking my spare switch inventory and wondering if I should push for more hot spares in our budget next quarter. Has anyone else run into this and adjusted their maintenance contracts or spare parts stock?

2 comments

2 Comments

cora56220d ago

Honestly that "whole stacks dropping offline after 14 months" part hits close to home, we had exactly that happen last year.

anthony_wells20d ago

Nah that sounds like a good thing actually, saved you from wasting more money on it.