Cisco Unveils Midrange Modular Switches

Cisco Systems

The new Catalyst 4500 series switches also support line cards from Catalyst 4000 switches, offering investment protection for customers and upgrade opportunities for solution providers, said Mark Foss, product manager for the Catalyst 4000 line.

The Catalyst 4500 series switches utilize power over Ethernet to power IP telephones and wireless LAN access points without the need for an electrical outlet.

The switches are targeted at the enterprise wiring closet and enterprise branch locations, Foss said. The 4500 series also includes the new Catalyst 4000 Supervisor Engine IV control module, which offers redundancy in the top-of-the-line Catalyst 4507R. The seven-slot chassis supports two Supervisor Engine IVs so that if one fails, the second control module will take over in less than a minute. The Supervisor Engine IV is also backward compatible with Cisco's Catalyst 4000 series switches.

Bob Bojanek, executive vice president of New York-based solution provider ShoreGroup, said the new 4500 series switches deliver on Cisco's promise of resilient networking.

"We put a lot of effort into selling the resilience model," he said. "I'm glad to see Cisco continue to deliver on their product road map."

The 4500 series includes two other chassis, the 4506 with six modular slots and the 4503 with three modular slots. While the 4507R must house the Supervisor Engine IV, the 4506 and 4503 also can be operated with Catalyst 4000 Supervisor Engines II or III. All three chassis operate with either of two new power supplies, one supporting data only and the other supporting data and inline power.

All three chassis scale up to 240 ports of 10/100, 100Base-FX Fast Ethernet, 100Base-LX, or 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet. The switches deliver wirespeed Layer 2-4 switching at 48 million packets per second, Foss added.

To provide flexibility for solution providers and their customers, Cisco is offering the 4500 series unbundled, selling the chassis, control modules and power supplies separately, Foss said.

All available now, the Supervisor Engine IV lists for $13,495. The 4503 chassis lists for $995; the 4506, $4,995; and the 4507R, $9,995.