Stackables support Cisco's new IOS Software Activation feature, Power over Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
Cisco this week juiced up its Catalyst switch line with gear that boosts Power-over-Ethernet support, backup power and failover, and 10G Ethernet connectivity at the LAN edge.
New Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E switches from Cisco target dense PoE deployments, where a majority of ports on a switch require in-line power for attached devices, such as IP phones or wireless LAN access points. These switches offer twice the PoE support as previous models and include expanded 10G Ethernet uplink options. In addition, Cisco has beefed up the power supplies on its Catalyst 6500 series chassis to power as many as 420 ports in a chassis with PoE.
Gear also being launched includes:
* Redundant Power System (RPS) 2300, a backup power supply and power-management device for Cisco PoE switches
* Catalyst 3560 Compact Switch and Catalyst 2960 Compact Switch, for deployment in tight spaces or public areas
* A 10G Ethernet-enabled Supervisor Engine for the Catalyst 4500 chassis, plus advanced IOS software imaging for the device
Slide show: Cisco Gear Guide
The Catalyst 3750-E comes in 24- and 48-port versions. Each has 10/100/1000Mbps autosensing ports and modular port slots, which can accept dual-port Gigabit Ethernet or single-port 10G Ethernet uplinks. The switch stacks with as many as eight other 3750-E switches or older versions of the Catalyst 3750, with Cisco’s StackWise interconnection technology. This lets switches be linked by a common 64Gbps interconnected backplane while being managed and configured as a single logical network device.
The Catalyst 3750 series is the key LAN building block at Duke University in Durham, N.C., which uses hundreds of 3750 switches in wiring closets and data centers (see related story). Upgrades to the switch will better support the university’s WLAN infrastructure and its expansion of 10G Ethernet across the campus, says Kevin Miller, senior manager of network services at Duke.
“10G uplinks [are] going to be critical in some of our data-center locations and in our research departments around campus,” Miller says. The school’s current backbone is a 20Gbps ring (five Catalyst 6500s connected with dual 10G Ethernet fibers). However, 10G is not deployed widely beyond the ring, to campus buildings or research facilities, where bandwidth needs are exploding.
For example, Miller says, “we’re talking about, literally, hundreds of megabits per second, sustained,” Duke physicists download data sets from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research lab. “Supporting things like that within the overall network is making us look at 10G.”
Besides the core Catalyst 6500s, most switches on the Duke campus are stackable 3750-series devices. Miller likes the fact that the 3750-E will be compatible with his network’s older StackWise 3750 switches. For anticipated 10G deployments, the 3750-E’s new 64Gbps interconnect — upgraded from the previous 32Gbps support — also will be helpful, he adds.
The Catalyst 3650-E’s features are similar to those of the 3750-E — as many as 48 ports of 10/100/1000Mbps PoE, and dual 10G Ethernet — except that the switches are stand-alone, and cannot be linked with StackWise technology.
The 3650-E and 3750-E support Cisco’s new IOS Software Activation feature, announced earlier this month. The switches will ship with full-feature versions of IOS on the hardware, which users will activate with software keys. This differs from past practices, where hardware was shipped with a base IOS image, which users had to change or modify themselves.
For chassis-based deployments of PoE, Cisco has added an 8700W power supply for the Catalyst 6500 switch. The new power supply is an upgrade from previous 3000W and 6000W supplies for the switch. The 8700W supply can power as many as 420 PoE ports (each transmitting 15.4W) inside a nine-slot Catalyst 6500 chassis.
Also on the power-supply front, Cisco is introducing the RPS 2300. The device acts as a backup power supply for one or two Catalyst 3750-E or 3650-E switches, when there’s an internal power supply failure. The RPS 2300 hooks to an alternative power source — such as a generator or UPS backup — to provide a smooth power transition and monitoring of power usage to switches in the event of a buildingwide power failure, Cisco says.
Cisco also launched new switches designed for tight spaces or areas where LAN devices need to sit out in the open. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 and 2960 Compact Switches are eight-port switches with ruggedized features, such as fan-less internal-heat dissipation and a reinforced metal casing. The 2960 supports 10/100Mbps, with a 10/100/1000Mbps small-form factor pluggable (SFP) uplink port. (A version is available with seven 10/100/1000Mbps ports and a single SFP uplink). The 3560 has eight 10/100Mbps PoE ports and a single SFP uplink. Cisco says the fan-less operation and small size let the devices sit in public areas where fan noise is unwelcome — such as a classroom or library — or in scenarios where storage closets or other spaces are made into ad hoc LAN wiring spots.
Slide show: Cisco Gear Guide
In addition, several upgrades were made to the Catalyst 4500 chassis, which is used in small-backbone, aggregation-layer or wiring-closet deployments. A new Supervisor V-10GE engine adds built-in 10G Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet uplinks to the module, along with four optional SFP ports for two 10G or four 1G Ethernet uplink modules. The Catalyst 4500 now has Cisco’s In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) feature, previously available on the Catalyst 6500. This lets administrators make changes to IOS software configurations or to upgrade to different IOS versions without taking the device offline.
The new switches’ availability and starting prices are as follows:
Shipping now:
*Cisco Catalyst 2960 Compact Switch: $895
*Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series ISSU: $5,000
Shipping in February:
*Catalyst 3750-E: $9,500
*Catalyst 3560-E: $6,000
*Catalyst 6500 8700W Power Supply: $7,000
*Cisco Redundant Power System 2300 $2,200
*Cisco Catalyst 3560 Compact Switch: $1,400
