Thus spake "Vadim Antonov" <avg@exigengroup.com>
Actually, not. A router is a hell of a lot simpler than a Class-5 switch, particularly if you don't do ATM, FR, X.25, MPLS, QoS, multicast, IPv6, blah, blah, blah.
The data plane is remarkably easier. The control plane is arguable. And without ATM, FR, MPLS, QOS, multicast, etc. nobody will be buying your router.
Demonstrably (proof by existence), those switches can be made reasonably reliable. So can be routers. It's the fabled computer tech culture of "be crappy, ship fast, pile features sky high, test after you ship" aka OFRV's Micro$oft envy, which is the root evil.
The question is actually whether anyone would pay the cost of a perfect router. People complain that today's routers are too expensive, and most vendors are going bankrupt or giving up. Many of those were marketing to the "featureless and reliable" niche. S