Juniper QFX: 2026 data center guide

The Juniper QFX portfolio is Juniper Networks' family of data center switches. It supports spine-leaf architecture, native EVPN-VXLAN, sub-µs latency and RoCEv2 for AI/ML and storage. An alternative to Cisco Nexus and Arista 7050/7500. Complete 2026 guide.

QFX portfolio

QFX5100/5110 (10/25/100G leaf)

• QFX5110-48S: 48×10G + 4×40G/100G — €22,500 excl. VAT (see dedicated product page)
• QFX5100-48T: 48×1G/10G copper + 6×40G — €18,900 excl. VAT

QFX5120 (next-generation leaf)

• QFX5120-32C: 32×100G QSFP28 — €28,900 excl. VAT
• QFX5120-48Y: 48×25G SFP28 + 8×100G — €32,500 excl. VAT
• QFX5120-48YM: 48×25G + 8×100G with MACsec — €34,900 excl. VAT

QFX5130 (400G)

• QFX5130-32CD: 32×400G QSFP-DD — €58,000 excl. VAT
• QFX5130-48C: 48×100G + 8×400G — €65,000 excl. VAT

QFX5200/5210 (100G spine)

• QFX5200-32C: 32×100G spine — €38,000 excl. VAT
• QFX5210-64C: 64×100G high-density — €68,000 excl. VAT

QFX10000 (DC core chassis)

• QFX10002: 1 chassis, 60+ 100G ports — €120,000 excl. VAT
• QFX10008/10016: 8-16-slot chassis — €300,000-€1M excl. VAT

EVPN-VXLAN

Juniper is renowned for the simplicity of its EVPN-VXLAN implementation:

• Anycast gateway on each leaf (vs. centralized gateway on Cisco)
• Type-2 (MAC/IP) + Type-5 (IP prefix)
• Symmetric IRB by default
• Native ESI LAG (multi-homing)

Junos + Apstra

• Traditional Junos OS CLI for manual configuration
• Juniper Apstra for intent-based automation (see dedicated article)
• Mist orchestration for AI/ops

Spine-leaf capacity planning

Small fabric

2× QFX5120-32C spine + 4× QFX5110-48S leaf. Budget: 2×28900 + 4×22500 = €147,800 excl. VAT. Capacity: 192×25G server connections + 8×100G spine-leaf links.

Medium fabric

4× QFX5200-32C spine + 16× QFX5120-48Y leaf. Budget: ~€680,000 excl. VAT. Capacity: 768×25G server connections.

Comparison

• Cisco Nexus 9300: equivalent, 15-20% more expensive, with NX-OS or ACI
• Arista 7050X3: more mature EOS, with CloudVision for analytics
• Mellanox/NVIDIA Spectrum-3: better suited to AI/ML with Cumulus/DENT

Order from OPTINOC

Complete range of new Juniper QFX switches plus Advanced EVPN-VXLAN licenses from OPTINOC. Turnkey spine-leaf configuration. Support for Apstra orchestration. DC quotation within 48 hours.