Cisco® Catalyst® 4500 Series Switches deliver secure, flexible, non-stop communications with exceptional investment protection.

Overview

Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches with CenterFlex technology provide scalable nonblocking Layer 2-4 switching with secure, flexible, nonstop communications, enabling business resilience for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and Metro Ethernet customers deploying business-critical applications. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 delivers predictable and scalable high performance, with advanced dynamic quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities and configuration flexibility for enterprise wiring closets and SMB access/core. Integrated resiliency features in both hardware and software maximize network availability, helping to ensure workforce productivity, profitability, and customer success. The Cisco Catalyst 4500's centralized, innovative, and flexible system design helps ensure smooth migration to wire-speed IPv6 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The flexibility, scalability, and forward and backward compatibility between generations of the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series extend deployment life, providing exceptional investment protection and reducing the total cost of ownership.

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series (Figure 1) includes four chassis options: Cisco Catalyst 4510R-E (10 slots), Cisco Catalyst 4507R-E (7 slots), Cisco Catalyst 4506-E (6 slots), and Cisco Catalyst 4503-E (3 slots). The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series provides a common architecture, taking advantage of existing Cisco Catalyst 4000 Series line cards scaling up to 388 Ethernet ports. Offering compatibility with existing Cisco Catalyst 4000 and 4500 Series line cards, the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E Series extends its window of deployment in converged networks.

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series includes "classic" supervisor engines and line cards and a new "E-Series" supervisor engine and line cards. Classic supervisors and line cards deliver 6 gigabits of switching capacity per line-card slot and forwarding performance up to 102 million pps. The new E-Series supervisor engines and line cards provide many enhancements, including 24 gigabits of switching capacity per line-card slot and aggregate forwarding performance of 250 million pps.