Cisco Certified Expert Network Consultants

The Catalyst family of modular and fixed switches offers performance and control at the access, aggregation, and core areas of converged IP voice, video, and high bandwidth data networks for organizations that range in size from small businesses and branches to global enterprises and service providers. Progent's Cisco-certified consultants offer online and on-premises expertise with Catalyst switches to assist your organization to plan an efficient infrastructure that meets your specific business needs, configure pilot testing systems, deploy Catalyst switches, establish and verify a sensible security plan, streamline network management and monitoring, provide troubleshooting and support services, optimize switch performance, and configure Catalyst's high-availability (HA) technology for non-stop operation, Progent can assist you to manage and repair your legacy Catalyst switches or migrate with minimal disruption to the latest models of Catalyst switches following leading practices to make sure that you receive the most business value from your investment in your network.

The need for smart, high-speed switching is the result 0f a confluence of fairly recent networking trends whose overall impact is a cyber tsunami of data:

• Cloud computing and an associated need for massive virtualization
• The proliferation of BYOD computing
• Bandwidth-intensive rich media apps
• Social media for business
• The rise of Big Data in enterprise analytics

Cloud computing is only financially feasible by utilizing network virtualization. Virtualized infrastructures radically reduce costs by allowing aggressively high resource utilization and demanding very little real estate and energy use. However this also requires that comparatively limited network resources have to accommodate large amounts of data. The Bring-Your-Own-Device paradigm has caused a dramatic increase in the number of mobile clients that have be handled by business networks, and these clients tend to run a great deal of data-intensive, HD video applications. Social business applications are displacing email as the main enabler of collaboration and is producing an ever increasing demand for data. Enterprises who want to stay competitive are resorting to Big Data technology to search through vast and disparate repositories of corporate data, which as a result produces Big Network Traffic. These computing trends are relatively new, and combined they cause a critical demand for a new class of switches that feature significantly more performance, control, uptime and ease of management than previous platforms were built to provide.

Cisco's latest portfolio of Catalyst switches are designed for the distribution and core layers levels of campus environments where mobile and stationary workers must be provided for by offering predictable high throughput, strict user access control, careful segregation, application awareness, and wired and wireless convergence. Catalyst series switches are designed to meet the need for performance and control with capabilities such as high-density 10, 40, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet services, switching performance as high as 11.4 Tbps per chassis and double that per system, a powerful collection of tools such as EVN to simplify the deployment of VLANs, Virtual Switching System (VSS) technology for stateful failover with instant virtual switch recovery and "five nines" (99.999%) uptime, IPv6 capability, Application Visibility and Control (AVC) to optimize system utilization, and advanced Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities for video data control.

Cisco Catalyst switches enable businesses of all sizes to build intelligent switching and routing services into their network infrastructure, creating an environment that can meet current needs, expand to support expected capacity demands, protect vital information, and separate and control tasks to enhance network productivity.

Cisco Catalyst 2960 Swiches and 3560-CX Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 2960-CX is a fixed-port switch that is ultra-compact, fanless, low power, and includes a variety of mounting alternatives. The device has eight 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and two Gigabit Ethernet uplinks and has an option for Power over Ethernet. Cisco's Catalyst 3560-CX is a fixed-configuration switch housed in a compact, noiseless and energy-efficient enclosure that can be placed almost anywhere outside a wiring closet. Models are available with eight or 12 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports or with six 1-GE ports and 2 multigigabit ports. Up to four uplink ports are offered, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) is also an option.

Cisco's Catalyst 2960-L line consists of value-priced fixed-configuration managed switches targeted for small offices, retail venues, and other environments where space is limited. Catalyst 2900-L compact appliances include eight to 48 GE ports and either two or four Small Form-Factor Pluggable uplink ports. Power over Ethernet support saves space and fanless operation for the 8- models does away with noise. RJ-45 connectors support 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-T SFP-ports.

Cisco Catalyst 2960-X and Catalyst 2960-XR switches improve on the 2690-S line of switches by delivering switching capacity as high as 216 Gbps and supporting Cisco's FlexStack-Plus stacking technology by means of a live-swappable plug-in that allows 8 switches in a FlexStack Plus stack with 80 Gbps of stacking throughput. Cisco Catalyst 2900 Series switches also support NetFlow-Lite for flow-based traffic monitoring. The Catalyst 2960-XR switch features L3 dynamic routing, providing the simplicity of using one device for L2 and L3 routing.

Catalyst 3650 and Catalyst 3850 Switches
Catalyst 3650 and Catalyst 3850 series switches are fixed, stackable network access devices powered by Cisco's IOS XE OS and incorporating full wireless controller functionality that lets you converge wired and wireless infrastructure on a single device managed by one OS. Cisco has versions with either 24 or 48 1Gb Ethernet connections with Power over Ethernet plus (PoE+), four 1GE or four 10-GB Ethernet uplink ports, and support for up to nine Catalyst switches per FlexStack stack. All models provide modular Quality of Service, stateful failover for high uptime, support in software for IPv4/IPv6 routing, multicast, and advanced security features.

Because wireless traffic is present at the Catalyst 3000 family switch, network managers can spot and assign priorities to wireless traffic using Cisco's Flexible NetFlow (FNF) solution along with advanced Quality of Service capabilities for a better user experience and faster problem isolation. Fast Ethernet switching can handle the high-throughput defined by the latest 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi standard on currently in-place cabling solutions. (For information about Progent's support for Cisco's 802.11ac Wi-Fi products, and Meraki cloud-managed APs, visit Planning and Deployment Support for Cisco Wireless Products.)

The Catalyst 3650 switch delivers stacking throughput of 160 Gbps and can control up to 25 Wi-Fi APs and 1000 wireless users per switch or stack. The Catalyst 3850 switch offers stacking performance as high as 480 Gbps and supports as many as 50 Wi-Fi access points and 2000 wireless users on each switch. Catalyst 3850 SFP Fiber Switches have 12 or 24 1G fiber ports at line rate on every port, providing long distance connectivity, advanced security, and a consistent wired/wireless user experience.

Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Series and Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches
Catalyst 4500-E Series and and Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series switches are designed for campus and distribution deployments where physical space for networking equipment is at a premium. Powered by Cisco's IOS XE software, the 4500-E and Catalyst 4500-X families facilitate virtualization thanks to Cisco's Easy Virtual Network (EVN) and Virtual Switching System (VSS) technologies. Network virtualization makes it possible to segment a hardware network into a number of virtual networks (VNs) whose data planes and control planes are logically distinct. This makes possible the efficient utilization, protection, resilience, and manageability required for Cloud computing or other scenarios where a common resource pool must be shared by applications and services that need to run in total isolation from one another. EVN speeds up the process of creating virtual networks and can be expanded to 32 VNs for each switch. EVN utilizes features of Multi-virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) and includes additional technologies including VNET Trunks and an easy technique for duplicating replicating routes connecting virtual networks. VSS makes it possible to set up Catalyst 4500-E and Catalyst 4500-X Series switches to create zero-downtime VNs with optimized load balancing.

Cisco Catalyst 4500E Switches
Cisco's Supervisor Engine 8-E for the Catalyst 4500-E switch has a built-in wireless network controller that works with Cisco's Unified Access solution for wired and wireless convergence. The Supervisor Engine 8-E is the first Cisco Catalyst supervisor engine to enable wired as well as wireless services on a single platform powered by IOS XE software. Features included are Cisco's FNF technology for capacity planning encompassing both wired and Wi-Fi networks, TrustSec wired and wireless security, consistent Quality of Service for wired and wireless clients, and the extension of NSF/SSO to include Wi-Fi data traffic for enterprise-class high availability.

Available in chassis that have from three to 10 plug-in slots, Catalyst 4500-E Series switches with Supervisor 8-E can handle as many as 384 10/100/1000 Ethernet access ports, up to 192 Gigabit Ethernet non-blocking fiber ports, 96 10-Gigabit Ethernet fiber ports, and eight 10GE uplink ports. The Catalyst 4500-E Supervisor Engine 8-E provides as much as 928 Gbps of wired throughput per system and 20 Gbps of wireless termination performance. 50 Wi-Fi APs and 2000 Wi-Fi clients can be supported on each chassis, and 250 wireless access points and 4000 clients are managed in a dual-switch installation without requiring a standalone wireless network controller.

Catalyst 4500-X Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 4500-X Series switches are fixed 10GE aggregation switches that can provide as much as 800 Gbps of core switching capacity per chassis. The Catalyst 4500-X switch supports as many as 32 10GE ports on the unit's baseboard and eight extra 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports on the optional expansion module for a total of up to 40 non-blocking 10GE connections. Eight 10GE uplink ports can be added via another module. In addition to providing zero-downtime performance and simple manageability, Cisco's VSS technology on Catalyst 4500-X Series switches offers increased system performance of up to 1.6 Tbps by enabling all available capacity across redundant Catalyst 4500-X switches. Additional advanced features include Cisco's FNF solution for traffic analysis, TrustSec protection, and wire-rate IPv6 forwarding.

Catalyst 6500 Series and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches
Catalyst 6500 Series and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series switches are enterprise campus core switches that incorporate the field-proven DNA of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 family of products, which first appeared over a dozen years ago and which have been steadily enhanced since then. Catalyst 6500 and Cisco Catalyst 6800 switches provide the same features and operation, and the modular Cisco Catalyst 6807-XL accepts the Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 2T and the associated family of line cards and service modules. This cross compatibility and commitment to continual enhancement preserves your IT investment and permits you to upgrade your network with minimal downtime or management team training.

Common attributes of Catalyst 6500 and Catalyst 6800 modular switches equipped with Cisco's Supervisor Engine 2T include the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for simple, centralized control to put in place consistent policy throughout a distributed network, VSS Quad Sup SSO (VS4O) capability for maximum availability via multi-level redundancy, and Cisco's LISP protocol to support roaming and device mobility and to streamline network virtualization and migration to IPv6. Other virtual networking tools to partition distinct client groups and serve the unique security and QoS policy needs of every group include Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPN, full Multiprotocol Label Switching, Easy Virtual Network (EVN), VPN Routing and Forwarding-aware technology for Network Address Translation (NAT) NetFlow, GRE for v4/v6, and L2 extensions with VPLS. For converged wired/wireless environments, the WiSM2 controller Catalyst 6500 Series and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series modular switches includes support for 1000 wireless APs and 15,000 wireless users.

Catalyst 6500-E Series Switches
The Catalyst 6500-E Series of modular switches are designed for aggregation and campus core networks that need maximum uptime and high densities of 1 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 GE fiber, and/or 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports. Available versions come with three to 13 slots and accept a wide selection of interfaces. Integrated service modules enable wireless management, network analysis, and security. Only E-Series models of Cisco's broad family of Catalyst 6500 switches are compatible with Cisco's Supervisor Engine 2T.

The value-priced Cisco Catalyst 6503-E has a 4 rack unit chassis, holds 3 expansion slots, and delivers as much as 180 Gbps of switching bandwidth on each slot. The Cisco Catalyst 6503-E switch supports up to 97 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, up to 99 Gigabit Ethernet fiber access ports, 34 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 8 40GE access ports.

The top-of-the-line Catalyst 6513-E has a 19RU, 13-slot form factor and offers up to 180 Gbps of bandwidth per slot, providing a system capacity of up to 4 Tbps. A Virtual Switching System configuration can support 8 Tbps of throughout. The Catalyst 6513-E switch supports a maximum of 529 1 Gigabit Ethernet connections, up to 534 Gigabit Ethernet fiber ports, up to 180 10GE ports, and 44 40GE ports.

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 6800 Series switches are programmable backbone switches intended to deliver best-of-breed 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet support. The Cisco Catalyst 6880-X switch is a fixed-configuration, small form factor device for high-density Ethernet intended for small or medium-size campus cores. The Catalyst 6880-X switch delivers as much as 2 Tbps switching bandwidth and has four slots for port cards. The top port density per chassis is 80 10/100/1000 Ethernet connections or 10GE ports or as many as 20 40GE connections. With VSS, these switches can deliver 4 Tbps performance and handle up to 158 1 Gigabit Ethernet connections or 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports or up to 20 40-Gigabit Ethernet access ports.

The modular Cisco Catalyst 6807-XL switch comes in a 10-rack-unit chassis with 7 slots and supports standard Supervisor Engine 2T line cards and modules. (Two of the slots are reserved for the Supervisor Engine and five are for expansion modules.) The Catalyst 6807-XL switch offers up to 880 Gbps of switching capacity per slot and up to 11.4 Tbps of full-duplex switching bandwidth while supporting up to 240 10/100/1000 Ethernet access ports or 1GE fiber ports, up to 80 10GE access ports or up to 20 40-Gigabit Ethernet connections. an 6807-XL system with Cisco's Virtual Switching System can handle 22.8 Tbps of switching bandwidth, 480 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports or Gigabit Ethernet fiber connections, 160 10GE connections or 40 40GE ports.

Legacy Catalyst Switches Supported by Progent's Consultants
Progent's Cisco certified consultants have broad backgrounds providing online and on-premises support expertise for legacy Catalyst switches for which Cisco has announced End of Life or End of Support. These legacy switches usually are more expensive to manage and maintain than current switches, provide lower capacity and functionality, and in some situations may subject businesses to regulatory and liability risks. Progent are available to help you to manage and repair these legacy switches and can also assist you to plan and execute seamless migrations to current models from the Catalyst family or to solutions from the Cisco Nexus portfolio of switches which build upon Catalyst technology. Legacy Cisco Catalyst switches for which Progent offers support include:

Catalyst Express 500 Family
Cisco's Catalyst Express 500 family of Layer 2 switches are intended for organizations with up to 250 workers and deliver the dependability, protection, scalability, and features small and mid-sized businesses require at an economical cost. PoE capability makes it simple to add network appliances such as wireless access points and closed-circuit cameras.

Versions of the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 switches offer from 8 to 24 10/100/1000BT Ethernet ports as well as optional redundant power with auto switch-over for additional dependability. Integration with Cisco wireless access points allows organizations to set up a local wireless environment quickly and effectively. The Catalyst Express 500 and 520 platform offers solid protection against viruses With the Cisco Self-Defending Network technology and Cisco Clean Access solutions.

Cisco Catalyst 2940 Switch
Catalyst 2900 Series fixed-configuration, managed 10/100 switches offer basic small-group connectivity for small to medium-sized businesses. These wire-rate desktop switches deliver IOS Software functions for simple data, video, and voice control at the network edge. The Catalyst 2940 line of managed switches are small, entry-level switches featuring 8 Ethernet connections and one built-in Fast Ethernet or Gbit Ethernet uplink. They can be installed away from the wiring cabinet in cramped locations like on a user's desk or in a conference room.

Catalyst 2960-S Series Switch
The Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series are fixed-configuration switches intended for small companies and branches. Current versions have 24 or 48 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, four 1-Gigabit or two 10-Gigabit uplink ports, and provide switching capacity as high as 176 Gbps. Cisco's FlexStack feature allows as many as four Catalyst 2960-S chassis to be grouped in a stack to act like a single switch that offers 40 Gbps of stacking throughput and that reduces operational costs because of single-switch setup. IPv6 First Hop Security capability protects against address interception and other threats.

Catalyst 3560 Family Switches
The Catalyst 3560 family is a selection of fixed-configuration switches that features IEEE 802.3af and Cisco Power over Ethernet functionality in Fast Ethernet and 10/100/1000 implementations. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 is a proven Layer 2 switch for small enterprise network connectivity or satellite-offices, combining both Gigabit Ethernet and Power over Ethernet (PoE) options for high productivity while facilitating the deployment of key technology including IP telephony, wireless connectivity, video surveillance, and remote video kiosks. Customers can activate network-wide intelligent services such as quality of service (QoS), rate limiting, access control lists (ACLs), multicast administration, and broadband IP routing while maintaining the simplicity of traditional network switching.

The Catalyst 3560 Series switch offers a powerful set of capabilities that permit network expandability and higher resilience through IP routing plus a full suite of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) improvements designed to increase availability in an access Layer LAN. Enhancements to the conventional Spanning Tree Protocol, including Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+), and Port Fast, combined with enhancements like Flex Links, improve network efficiency. Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) allows for Data Link Layer traffic sharing on backup connections to take advantage of the additional capacity associated with a redundant architecture.

Efficient routing protocols such as Open Shortest Path First (OPSF), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), static routing, and Policy Based Routing improve network scale; Protocol Independent Multicast helps improve utilization of network resources; and VRFLite protects network traffic.

Catalyst 3750 Family Switches
For mid-size businesses and corporate branches, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series switch facilitates integration of unified applications and adapts to evolving competitive needs by offering setup versatility, support for converged network traffic, and management-free configuration of intelligent network functions. Also, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series is designed for high-density Gigabit Ethernet environments and incorporates a wide range of switches that meet the access, distribution, and backbone-interface requirements of small or midsized systems.

Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series includes either the IP Base or the IP Services image. The IP Base image features include advanced quality of service, rate-limiting, access control lists, and basic static and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) routing capability. The IP Services image offers a richer selection of enterprise-grade functions, including sophisticated hardware-based IP unicast/multicast routing.

Cisco StackWise technology is an architecture optimized for 1000 Ethernet. Cisco StackWise is intended to respond to installs, deletions, and redeployments while maintaining consistent operation. StackWise technology unites up to 9 individual switches into one functional device, using special stack-interface cables and stacking utilities. The individual switches can be any mix of Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series switches and the Catalyst 3750-E switches. The stack operates as a single switching unit that is directed by a master switch, selected from among the member switches. The master switch automatically builds and keeps current all the switching and optional routing tables. A deployed stack can accept new devices or delete old devices without service interruption.

Ways That Progent Can Assist Your Business with Catalyst Switches
Progent offers the remote or on-premises expertise of CCIE-certified network consultants who have extensive backgrounds delivering Catalyst switch technology support for small and midsize organizations, branches, enterprises, data centers, Cloud environments, and service providers. Progent's practice areas include Cisco's Catalyst and Nexus families of smart switches and Cisco's IOS, IOS-XR and NX-OS control software. Services offered by Progent's experts for Cisco Catalyst Series switches include proof-of-concept testing, network analysis, topology design, upgrades and project management, network virtualization, wired/wireless unification, management automation, performance optimization, problem mitigation, disaster recovery and business continuity planning, and network security assessment and verification.

Progent offers broad expertise with open standards as well as with proprietary Cisco technologies associated with switching and routing including BGP, MPLS traffic engineering, Protocol Independent Multicast, VPNs, Spanning-Tree Protocol, virtual LANs, Cisco FabricPath, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, OSPF, VSS, and Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP). Progent's infrastructure experts also have deep knowledge of key networking technologies including TCP/IP, IPv4/IPv6, EIGRP, RIP, and IGMP. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP certified data security and compliance consultants can assist you to develop an enterprise-wide security and compliance plan and implement Cisco Catalyst switches so they provide maximum enforcement to your security policies.

In case you need the highest available density or sub-microsecond latency switches for a world-class data center, Progent can help you to analyze, plan, and implement a transition to Cisco's Nexus switches. To learn about Progent's consulting capabilities for Nexus switches, see Nexus Switch consulting offered by Progent. Progent can also assist you to integrate Catalyst data center switches with Meraki aggregation switches. (See Cisco Meraki switch integration consultants.)

To learn additional information about Progent's professional help for Cisco products, select a subject:

• Introduction to Cisco Network Support
• Fast Remote Assistance from a Cisco CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Series Firewalls: Integration and Management Support
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Setup and Management Support
• Cisco ASA 5500 Series Firewall Management Support
• Cisco PIX Firewall Engineering Expertise
• Cisco Routers Configuration and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco Wireless Network Design Expertise
• Aironet Wireless APs Engineering Services
• Cisco Small Business WiFi Access Points Consulting Services
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax Wireless APs Solution Design, Configuration and Debugging Support
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Experts
• Meraki Wireless Access Points Engineering Services
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Integration and Troubleshooting
• Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Expertise and Cisco Wireless VoIP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber and Management Expertise
• Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Meraki MS Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Security Consulting Expertise
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
• Design Solutions for Cisco-powered Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Data Center Design Consulting for Service Providers
• Remote Network Management Solutions for Cisco Infrastructure

In order to contact Progent about consulting expertise for Cisco networking, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.