Mikrotik RouterBoard and Ubiquiti Networks Routing and Switching Solutions

Tue Aug 12 00:22:05 UTC 2014

I am interested to hear opinions on Mikrotik and Ubiquiti Networks routing
and switching products. I know both hardware providers are widely deployed
in WISP networks, but I am less interested in their wireless solutions and
more in their wired products.

I know most of their switches and routers are software based, but that
might not necessarily be a bad thing since everyone is going to SDN
anyways. Their products are 1/10th or less of the cost of
the equivalent Cisco/Juniper products.

How stable and feature rich are both of their platforms? How do both of
their command line interfaces compare to Cisco or Juniper? Is it easy to
train a Cisco tech how to use a Mikrotik or Ubiquiti Networks product?

*Ubiquiti Networks software is based on a version of Vyatta I believe. As
many of you know Vyatta was bought by Brocade. I have heard that Vyatta is
very Juniper OS like. *Ubiquiti just release a line of switches that have
an amazing price and seem to support wire speed switching. Their EdgeRouter
is supposedly faster than Mikrotiks solutions. They are also traded on the
stock market, and seem to be doing well as a company.
http://www.ubnt.com/products/

Mikrotik also seems to make routers and switches. I am not sure what their
software is based on, but it does support advanced features such as MPLS.
Not sure about their switches, but they seem to be dirt cheap! What is
their command line interface like? I couldn't find any financial
information on this company, but they seem to be located in Latvia?
http://routerboard.com/

Does anyone have any meaningful insight to both companies? Why haven't they
made a dent in the switching and router market with their amazing price
points? Am I missing something here?