However since I began this thread I've been informed by numerous individuals that these small companies simply rebrand hardware, the web-ui appearance etc, and have absolutely no ability to modify the base code, that is something they have to pay the manufacturer of the switches to do and that cost is simply not something they are generally willing to partake in unless the manufacturer can be convinced they have made a grave error in some way.
[...]
I think it is a little unfair to refer to them in a derogatory manner. The couple of occasions I spoke to them personally they were very helpful and positively caring although they were very limited in what they could do and kept refering to the fact that they have different switches for different budgets, which is a classic escape.
However yes they do need to invest in ongoing firmware support, the hardware is indeed capable, the software is often the root cause of annoying issues.
Yes, there are a lot of them that simply rebrand switches from OEMs. Hongrui make many of them, and Hasivo also seem to have their own designs from what I can tell (I've at least gotten them to make firmware updates for me and have seen their switches rebranded by others). I thought Xikestor/Seeker might've made their own switches too, but I'm not sure.
Yes, I also think that was a bit unfair. I imagine that they have pretty thin margins so either having their own firnware developers or paying the OEM for that service might simply not be feasible.
Definitely known to rebrand other switches:
Horaco, POEPLUS, Mokerlink, Omay, ONTi, Hicomdata, OPTFOCUS, YuanLey, Davuaz
Presumably also rebranding operations:
keepLink, GoodTop
