Key Features/Benefits
Exceptional Performance
•Twelve or 24 wire-speed 10BaseT/100BaseTX autosensing ports, each delivering up to 200 Mbps of bandwidth to individual users, servers, or workgroups to support bandwidth-intensive applications
•Two built-in, wire-speed GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports, delivering up to 4-Gbps aggregated bandwidth to Gigabit Ethernet backbones, or Gigabit Ethernet servers, or between switches
•10-Gbps switching fabric and up to 6.5 million packets-per-second forwarding rate, ensuring full-wire speed operation for each 10BaseT/100BaseTX and Gigabit Ethernet port
•4-MB shared memory architecture, ensures the highest-possible throughput with a design that eliminates head-of-line blocking, minimizes packet loss, and delivers better overall performance in environments with extensive multicast and broadcast traffic
•Full-duplex operation on all ports, delivering up to 200 Mbps on 10/100 ports or 2 Gbps on 1000BaseX ports
•8-MB DRAM and 4-MB Flash memory onboard, enabling the addition of a continuous stream of feature upgrades, maximizing customers’ investments
•Dual priority forwarding queues on each 10/100 port and eight priority forwarding queues on all Gigabit Ethernet ports, enabling network traffic prioritization and seamless data, voice, and video integration (enabled in future software)
•Bandwidth aggregation through Fast EtherChannel and Gigabit EtherChannel technology, enhancing fault tolerance and offering from 400 Mbps up to 4 Gbps of aggregated bandwidth between switches, and to routers and individual servers
•Configurable network port, supporting unlimited MAC addresses for backbone connectivity
Flexible and Scalable Switch Clustering and Stacking
•GigaStack GBIC delivers a low-cost, independent stack bus with a 1-Gbps forwarding bandwidth in a daisy-chain configuration, with up to nine Catalyst 3500 XL
or gigabit-enabled Catalyst 2900 series XL switches or a
2-Gbps forwarding rate in a point-to-point configuration
•Cisco switch clustering technology allows a user to manage up to 16 inter-connected Catalyst 3500 XL, 2900 XL, and Catalyst 1900 switches through a single IP address regardless of location
•GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports give customers a choice of 1000BaseSX, 1000BaseLX/LH, or Cisco GigaStack stacking GBICs to fit their connection needs
Ease of Use and Ease of Deployment
•Cluster software upgrade feature allows the network manager to quickly and easily upgrade the system software on a group of Catalyst 3500 XL, 2900 XL, and Catalyst 1900 switches
•IEEE 802.3z-compliant 1000BaseSX and 1000BaseLX/LH physical interface support through a field-replaceable GBIC module provides customers unprecedented flexibility in switch deployment
•Autosensing on each port detects attached device speed and automatically configures the port for 10- or 100-Mbps operation, easing the deployment of the switch in mixed 10BaseT and 100BaseTX environments
•Autonegotiating on all ports automatically selects half- or full-duplex transmission mode to optimize bandwidth
•Autoconfiguration eases deployment of switches in the network by automatically configuring multiple switches across a network via a boot server
•Default configuration stored in Flash memory ensures that a switch can be quickly connected to the network and can pass traffic with minimal user intervention, preserving configuration in case of a power outage
