There are different points of view in designing and deploying large networks using Linux routers or dedicated routers that can handle very high data rates.

While some prefer to pay a large amount of money for dedicated routers for which they have technical support and well-defined technical characteristics and limitations, others want to reduce the costs by building such networks using powerful computers running Linux, offering a much larger flexibility in deployment.

This is not an easy choice at all. The business point of view has ups and downs when considering the two options. The biggest advantage of using dedicated routers from the business point of view is that the value of the network rises considerably if the network is built to be sold. What I mean is that if you build a large network using Cisco routers, you have more chance of selling it to a bigger provider than if you've build the network with Linux routers.

Using dedicated routers you...