Not sure if this request was already mentioned before, but would it be an idea to deliver a low-latency router device with:
- just two ports: SFP+ and UTP, preferably 10gbps, but 5 or 2.5 would already jump the popularity bandwagon.
- no switch chip; both directly connected to a multi-core CPU. No more bridge HW-offloading nightmares.
- no POE (nightmares)
- high performance CPU e.g. alike RB5009 or better, also to accommodate low latency (wireguard) VPN
- small form factor
- low power usage
- to further reduce cost: no external (usb) storage or additional power input options
Reasoning: a small home device with focus on routing only, to let a proper switch behind handle the rest (inter-vlan routing, dhcp, ACL's, etc).
Currently using RB5009 as pure NAT router with only two ports connected (avoiding that miserable eth1), with multiple static routes to a (cisco) switch which can handle L3 routing through ASIC with wire speed. Seems to work more responsive than using the AIO bridge-switch setup with HW offloading, at this moment.