Cisco Expert Network Consultants

Cisco's Catalyst line of modular and fixed switches provides speed and intelligence at the access, distribution, and backbone areas of converged voice, video, and data networks for businesses that range in size from small businesses and branch offices to global enterprises and SPs. Progent's Cisco-certified consultants can provide remote and on-premises support for Catalyst switches to help your organization to design a cost-effective network architecture that meets your unique business requirements, configure pilot testing, install Catalyst switches, implement and verify a sound security and compliance plan, streamline system management and monitoring, provide troubleshooting and support services, maximize switch performance, and set up Catalyst's high-availability (HA) technology to achieve near-zero downtime.

Progent can assist you to maintain and repair your legacy Catalyst switches or migrate smoothly to up-to-date versions of Catalyst switches following leading practices to make sure that you realize the most return from your investment in your IT infrastructure.

The need for intelligent, high-speed switching is the result 0f a confluence of relatively recent networking patterns whose overall effect is a virtual avalanche of traffic:

• Cloud and IoT networking and an associated demand for massive virtualization
• The pervasiveness of BYOD computing
• Data guzzling HD video applications
• Social media for business
• The rise of Big Data in data analytics
• Increasingly sophisticated threats such as ransomware

Cisco's latest lineup of Catalyst switches are best suited for the distribution and core layers layers of enterprise campus environments where office workers must be accommodated by providing unvarying high speed, secure access control, tight segmentation, application intelligence, and wired/wireless convergence. Catalyst series switches address the demand for performance and intelligence with capabilities such as high-port-count 10, 40, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet services, switching capacity more than 25 Tbps for each chassis, a comprehensive suite of tools such as Easy Virtual Network to facilitate the deployment of virtual networks, Virtual Switching System (VSS) technology for switch failover with instant backup switch recovery and "five nines" (99.999%) uptime, IPv4 and IPv6 support, Application Visibility and Control to maximize network utilization, and advanced Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities for critical traffic control.

Catalyst switches allow businesses of any size to build intelligent switching and routing features into their network architecture, deploying an environment that can meet real-time needs, expand to support expected capacity demands, protect sensitive data, and differentiate and control processes to optimize network productivity.

Catalyst 1000 Series Fixed Ethernet Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 1000 Series Layer 2 network access switches are small form factor, fixed-configuration switches intended for smaller businesses and branch offices with up to 250 workers and with little if any internal IT expertise. Cisco's Catalyst 1000 Series includes fanless versions for silent operation within an office environment. Mounting kits include desktop, wall mount, rack mount, and DIN. Designed as a simple replacement for Cisco Catalyst 2960-L or 2960-Plus deployments, the Catalyst 1000 line includes models with 8 to 48G Ethernet ports or 24 to 48 Fast Ethernet 10/100M Mbps ports.

Catalyst Series 1000 set up and management are simple via a web UI or CLI, security is enterprise-class, and PoE+ capability with a dynamically allocated power budget of 740W supports a wide variety of IoT deployments. As many as eight Catalyst 1000 Gbit Ethernet model switches can be managed together with single IP. All Catalyst 1000 models are line-rate devices, and all are based on Cisco's venerable IOS Software. Quality-of-Service (QoS) capabilities include egress queues for every port plus priority queuing to provide wire-speed performance for data, IP voice, and video traffic. Catalyst Series 1000 switches also offer Shaped Round Robin (SRR) service scheduling and Weighted Tail Drop (WTD) congestion management.

Catalyst 9000 Fixed and Modular Managed Switches
The Cisco Catalyst 9000 line of managed switches includes modular and fixed appliances and supports all deployment scenarios including access, distribution, and core switching. The Catalyst 9000 series offers devices with the right price/performance to connect workers and things in venues ranging from small businesses and branch offices to global enterprises. Catalyst 9000 Series products can be set up to implement any combination of local facilities, private/public clouds, and hybrid network models. Unified management platforms and advanced security features lower cost of ownership by cutting operational overhead and safeguarding critical network assets. Cisco's 9000X line of managed switches offer converged switching and routing, delivering the first mix of 400G QSFP-DD ports plus full mGig and PoE ports.

With twice the backplane stacking bandwidth at about half the price of the legacy Catalyst 2960-X and 2960-XR switches they are intended to replace, Cisco's Catalyst 9200 Series switches are a compelling infrastructure upgrade for small branch offices and midsize campus environments. The Catalyst 9200 portfolio includes models that support 24 or 48 ports with full Power over Ethernet; 80-160 Gbps stacking performance; and Layer 3 capabilities such as OSPF, EIGP distance routing protocol, IS-IS link-state protocol, and RIP. Catalyst 9200 switches are powered by Cisco IOS XE.

The Catalyst 9200 delivers 160-Gbps backplane stacking capacity, features onsite-replaceable redundant power supplies and fans, and accepts swappable interface modules with 4x1G, 4x1/10G, 2x25G, or 2x40G uplink. The Catalyst 9200 Enhanced VN model allows up to 32 Virtual Networks and delivers 160-Gbps backplane stacking bandwidth. The Catalyst 9200L delivers 80-Gbps stacking performance. The Catalyst 9200L multigigabit and the Catalyst 9200 multigigabit offer wireless bandwidth optimization with 8 or 12 mGig Ethernet ports as fast as 10Gbps.

Cisco's Catalyst 9300 Series switches are fixed, stackable appliances for ultra-high-density access switching. Key capabilities available with various models in the Catalyst 9300 family include up to 1Tbps backplane stacking capacity, stackable SFP fiber, up to 448 mGig ports and 288 ports of 90W UPOE+ with an 8-unit stack, line rate IPsec tunnel with AES-256 with MACsec 256-bit encryption and performance as high as 100G, HA fans and power supplies, plus data stack and StackPower cables common across the entire Catalyst 9300 product line.

Powered by Cisco IOS XE, switches in the Catalyst 9300 product line support automated provisioning, API-based configuration, granular visibility for near realtime monitoring, and transparent software patching. Security capabilities include Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) as well as AES-256 MACsec and IPSec encryption, plus Trust Anchor Technologies with Image signing and Secure Boot. Cloud cybersecurity is enhanced because Catalyst 9300 switches have the ability to host the Cisco Umbrella agent directly. This makes it possible for organizations to implement their DNS policies at user or group level to prevent BYOD or IoT clients from visiting malicious websites.

The entry-level Cisco Catalyst 9300L switch provides up to 320G stacking capacity and offers 12 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G ports and 36 10M/100M/1G ports. The 9300L uses fixed instead of modular uplink components for 4 1G, 4 10G, or 2 40G ports. The Cisco Catalyst 9300 appliance offers 480G of backplane stacking performance and supports 48 100M/1G/2.5G/5Gbps ports, 24 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10Gbps ports, or 48 1G SFP ports. Modular uplink performance available are 1G, 10G, 25G, or 40G. The high-end Cisco Catalyst 9300X appliance provides up to 1Tbps stacking capacity and supports 48 10G port density. The 9300X accepts uplink modules with dual-rate 100G/40G, multirate 25G/10G/1G, or mGig. Cisco 90W Universal Power Over Ethernet+ (UPOE+) supports dense IoT environments such as smart buildings. Cisco offers hardware to support 100G IPsec.

Cisco's Catalyst 9400 Series appliances are modular switches based on Cisco IOS XE and targeted for midsize and large campus access deployments. Delivering double the throughput and over four times the chassis bandwidth as the legacy Catalyst 6500 line it is built to replace, the Catalyst 9400 portfolio brings switch technology into the current era of networking impelled by security, mobility, IoT, and cloud.

Catalyst 9400 appliances are available with 4-slot, 7-slot, and 10-slot chassis. Two of the slots on the chassis are reserved for redundant supervisor cards, making 2, 5, or 8 slots available for line cards. Maximum capacity per line-card slot is 480 Gbps. Switching performance can achieve 1.44 Tbps and forwarding performance on Supervisor Module can reach 9 Tbps with the 10-slot chassis. All Catalyst 9400 models can provide 90W UPOE+ on every access port, secure network segmentation with Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) and N+N/N+1 power redundancy for high availability. The Catalyst 9400 4-slot switch supports 96 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, 5G/10G multigigabit ports, or 10G SFP+ ports. The Catalyst 9400 7-slot switch supports 240 ports, and the Catalyst 9400 10-slot supports 384 ports. All Catalyst 9400 switches can provide 2 non-blocking 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP uplinks and up to 8 non-blocking 10 Gigabit SFP+ uplinks.

The Catalyst 9500 product line includes fixed core and edge services switches intended for the large campus. Catalyst 9500 switches are powered by the Cisco IOS XE operating system and the the family incorporates the first network technology to deliver switching speeds higher than 25 Terabits per second.

Catalyst 9500 models provide up to 6.4 Terabits per second switching capacity with forwarding throughput as high as 2 Billion Packet per Second. Catalyst 9500 appliances can provide up to 32 nonblocking 100 Gigabit QSFP28 ports, 32 nonblocking 40 Gigabit QSFP+ ports, 48 nonblocking 25 Gigabit SFP28 ports, or 48 nonblocking 10 Gigabit SFP+ ports. You can deploy Multichassis EtherChannel across StackWise-Virtual members for high availability.

Catalyst 9500X appliances can provide up to 25.6 Terabits per second switching capacity with 2 Bpps forwarding capacity. Catalyst 9500X devices support up to 28 nonblocking 40/100 Gigabit QSFP28 optical ports or 8 nonblocking 40/100/200/400 G QSFP-DD ports. The 9500X product line also includes hardware support for line-rate 256-bit 802.1AE MACsec and WAN-MACsec1 data encryption.

Cisco's Catalyst 9600 Series switches are modular core and distribution appliances for the enterprise campus. The 6-slot 9600 Series chassis loaded with a Catalyst 9600X Series Supervisor delivers switching capacity up to 25.6 Terabits per second and can contain up to 256 nonblocking 10/25/50 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 96 nonblocking 40/100G Gigabit ports, or 8 nonblocking 200/400 Gigabit QSFP-DD ports. The Catalyst 9600 also supports dual-rate 40G/100G and 10G/25G optics. Two chassis slots are dedicated for high-availability supervisors. You can mix and match a variety of line cards for core and aggregation environments. The Catalyst 9600 chassis is equipped with a passive backplane, so you can change out fan tray, power supplies, and line cards without disruption.

Legacy Catalyst Switches Supported by Progent's Consultants
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified network consultants have extensive backgrounds providing remote and on-premises consulting and troubleshooting services for early-generation Catalyst Series switches for which Cisco has announced End of Life (EOL). These legacy switches typically cost more to operate and support than current models, provide lower performance and fewer features, and for many situations can expose organizations to regulatory compliance and liability risks. Progent can assist your business to manage and repair these older switches and can in addition assist you to plan and carry out seamless migrations to current models from the Catalyst family or to solutions from the Cisco Nexus line of network switches which build upon Catalyst technology.

Catalyst Express 500 Line
The Catalyst Express 500 line of fixed-configuration switches are designed for businesses with as many as 250 workers and provide the reliability, protection, scalability, and feature set small and mid-sized businesses need at an economical cost. PoE capability makes it easy to install network appliances like VoIP phones and closed-circuit TV cameras.

Models of the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 and 520 switches support from 8 to 24 10/100/1000BT ports plus the option of redundant power with automatic switch-over for additional reliability. Integration with Cisco access points allows organizations to build a local wireless environment quickly and effectively. The Catalyst Express 500 family offers solid security against viruses thanks to Cisco's Self-Defending Network technology and Clean Access solutions. Catalyst 2940 Switch
Catalyst 2900 Series fixed-configuration, managed 10/100 switches provide fundamental workgroup connectivity for small to midsize businesses (SMBs). These wire-rate desktop switches offer Cisco IOS Software functions for basic data, video, and voice support at the edge of the network. The Catalyst 2940 family of fixed-configuration switches are small-footprint, entry-level devices with 8 Ethernet ports and one built-in Fast or Gigabit uplink. They can be installed away from the wiring cabinet in space-constrained office spaces like on a worker's desk or in a conference room.

Catalyst 2960-S Series Switch
The Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series are fixed-configuration switches designed for small businesses and branch offices. Available versions incorporate 24 or 48 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, four 1GE or two 10-Gigabit uplinks, and provide switching capacity of up to 176 Gbps. Cisco's FlexStack feature permits as many as four Catalyst 2960-S switches to be grouped in a FlexStack stack to act as a single switching unit that offers 40 Gbps of stacking performance and that cuts administrative costs because of one-switch setup. IPv6 First Hop Security (FHS) technology protects against IPv6 address interception and other attacks.

Catalyst 3560 Family Switches
The Catalyst 3560 Series is a selection of non-modular switches that features IEEE 802.3af and PoE capability in 10/100 Ethernet and 10/100/1000 configurations. The Catalyst 3560 switch is an ideal access-layer switch for midsize business network connectivity or satellite-offices, combining both 10/100/1000 and PoE options for high efficiency while facilitating the deployment of key technology including Voice over IP, Wi-Fi, video monitoring, and remote video kiosks. Customers can activate network-wide intelligent features such as quality of service, rate management, access control lists (ACLs), multicast management, and high-performance IP routing while maintaining the simplicity of traditional LAN switching.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 family switch is equipped with a robust array of features that permit network expandability and enhanced resilience via IP routing plus a full complement of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) improvements aimed to maximize availability in a Layer 2 network. Enhancements to the conventional Spanning Tree Protocol, such as Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus, Uplink Fast, and Port Fast, combined with enhancements such as Flex Links, contribute to network uptime. Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) supports Data Link Layer load balancing on backup links to efficiently use the additional capacity associated with a redundant design.

Important routing protocols including Open Shortest Path First, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), and Policy Based Routing improve system scale; Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) helps improve the efficiency of system resource use; and VRFLite secures data.

Cisco Catalyst 3750 Family Switches
For midsized organizations and enterprise branch offices, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series facilitates integration of unified technologies and accommodates changing competitive needs by offering configuration versatility, support for unified network patterns, and management-free set up of intelligent system services. Also, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch is engineered for high-density Gigabit environments and includes a diverse range of switches that meet the access, distribution, and backbone-connectivity demands of small or midsized systems.

The Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series has the IP Base image or the IP Services image. The IP Base image capabilities include advanced quality of service (QoS), rate-limiting, access control lists (ACLs), and simple static and RIP routing capability. The IP Services image provides a richer set of enterprise-class functions, such as advanced hardware-based IP unicast/multicast routing.

Cisco StackWise technology is a stacking architecture optimized for Gigabit Ethernet. StackWise is intended to respond to additions, deletions, and redeployments while providing consistent performance. Cisco StackWise combines as many as 9 individual switches into a single functional unit, using custom stack-interface cables and software. The individual switches can be any mix of the Catalyst 3750 Series and the Cisco Catalyst 3750-E Series switches. The stack behaves as an individual switching device that is directed by a control switch, elected from among the member switches. The master switch automatically creates and updates all the switching and optional routing databases. A working stack can accept new members or remove old switches without service discontinuity.

Cisco Catalyst 2960 Swiches and 3560-CX Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 2960-CX is a fixed-port managed switch that is ultra-compact, fanless, low power, and allows flexible mounting alternatives. The Catalyst 2960-CX has eight 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and two Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports and optionally provides PoE+ power. Cisco's Catalyst 3560-CX appliance is a fixed-port managed switch packaged in a sleek, noiseless and energy-efficient unit that can be mounted almost anywhere convenient. Models are available with 8 or 12 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports or with 6 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and two multigigabit ports. Two or four uplinks are available, and Power over Ethernet is also available.

Cisco's Catalyst 2960-L line consists of entry-level fixed-port managed switches intended for branch offices, retail venues, and other places where space is limited. These compact appliances have 8 to 48 GE ports and two or four Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) uplink ports. Power over Ethernet support saves space and fan-free design for the 8- versions eliminates noise. RJ-45 connectors support 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-T SFP-ports.

Catalyst 2960-X and 2960-XR Series switches enhance the 2690-S line by offering switching performance of 216 Gbps and supporting Cisco's FlexStack-Plus Stacking via a live-swappable plug-in that can combine 8 Catalyst switches in a stack capable of 80 Gbps of stacking throughput. Catalyst 2900 Series switches also work with NetFlow-Lite for conserving forwarding data for analysis. The Catalyst 2960-XR Series switch features Layer 3 dynamic routing, providing the simplicity of having one switch for Layer 2 and Layer 3 routing.

Cisco Catalyst 3650 and Catalyst 3850 Series Switches
Catalyst 3650 and Catalyst 3850 series switches are fixed, stackable access switches based on Cisco's IOS XE operating system and incorporating comprehensive wireless controller capability that lets you converge wired and wireless infrastructure on a one device managed by one operating system. Cisco has versions with either 24 or 48 1Gb Ethernet connections with Power over Ethernet plus (PoE+), four 1GE or four 10GE uplinks, and support for up to 9 switches per stack. All versions offer expandable Quality of Service, stateful switchover for maximum availability, support in software for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast, and advanced security features.

Because wireless data traffic is visible at the Catalyst 3000 Series switch, it is possible to identify and assign priorities to wireless data with Cisco's Flexible NetFlow (FNF) technology and advanced QoS capabilities for a better user environment and quicker problem mediation. Fast Ethernet switching can handle the high-bandwidth called for by the latest 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi specification on currently in-place cabling infrastructure. (To find out about Progent's consulting services for Cisco's 802.11ac Aironet Wi-Fi technology, and Meraki cloud-managed Wi-Fi APs, visit Planning and Deployment Consulting Services for Cisco Wireless Access Points and Controllers.)

The Catalyst 3650 offers stacking bandwidth as high as 160 Gbps and supports as many as 25 Wi-Fi access points and 1000 wireless users per switch or stack. The Catalyst 3850 Series switch offers stacking performance as high as 480 Gbps and supports up to 50 wireless access points and 2000 wireless clients on each stack. Cisco Catalyst 3850 SFP Fiber Switches incorporate 12 or 24 1G fiber connections at line rate on every port, providing long distance connectivity, advanced security, and an identical wired/wireless experience.

Catalyst 4500-E Series and Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 4500-E Series and and Catalyst 4500-X Series switches are intended for campus and distribution deployments where physical space for networking equipment is limited. Powered by Cisco's IOS XE OS software, both the Catalyst 4500-E and 4500-X families facilitate network virtualization by supporting Cisco's EVN and VSS technologies. Network virtualization makes it possible to segment a hardware network into multiple virtual networks whose data and control planes are logically segregated. This makes possible the efficient utilization, security and compliance, resilience, and ease of management required for Cloud computing or other situations where a single resource pool is used by software and services that must operate in complete privacy from each other. EVN simplifies the process of creating VNs and can be expanded to 32 VNs per switch. EVN utilizes the capabilities of Multi-virtual routing and forwarding and provides additional features such as VNET Trunks and an easy technique for duplicating replicating routes connecting VNs. Virtual Switching System technology makes it possible to set up Catalyst 4500-E and 4500-X Series platforms to produce zero-downtime virtual networks with advanced traffic load balancing.

Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Switches
The Supervisor Engine for for the Catalyst 4500-E modular switch includes a built-in wireless controller that works with Cisco's Unified Access solution for wired and wireless convergence. this is the first Catalyst supervisor to support wired as well as wireless services on one platform based on Cisco's IOS XE software. Technologies included are Cisco's Flexible NetFlow technology for traffic analytics across wired and wireless networks, TrustSec wired/wireless security, identical QoS for wired and wireless clients, and the extension of NSF/SSO to cover wireless data traffic for world-quality high availability.

Offered in chassis that have from three to 10 plug-in slots, Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Series switches with Supervisor 8-E can handle up to 384 1-Gigabit Ethernet access ports, up to 192 1GE fiber fiber ports, 96 10GE fiber ports, and eight 10-Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. Cisco's Supervisor Engine 8-E provides up to 928 Gbps of wired access for each system and as much as 20 Gbps of wireless termination performance. 50 Wi-Fi APs and 2000 wireless users can be supported per chassis, and 250 wireless access points and 4000 clients can be supported in a multi-switch installation without requiring a standalone wireless network controller.

Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Switches
Cisco's Catalyst 4500-X switches are fixed 10GE aggregation switches that provide as much as 800 Gbps of core switching performance per device. The Catalyst 4500-X can have up to 32 10GE ports on the unit's baseboard and eight extra 10GE ports on the expansion module for a total of up to 40 non-blocking 10GE connections. Eight 10GE uplinks are available with another module. In addition to providing non-stop performance and simple manageability, Cisco's virtual switching system solution on Catalyst 4500-X Series switches provides increased system throughput of as much as 1.6 Tbps by enabling all possible capacity across redundant Catalyst 4500-X Series switches. Additional features include Cisco's Flexible NetFlow technology for application visibility, TrustSec protection, and wire-rate IPv6 forwarding.

Catalyst 6500 and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches
Catalyst 6500 Series and Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series switches are campus core platforms that share the field-proven DNA of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 family of products, which were introduced over a dozen years ago and have been steadily enhanced since then. Catalyst 6500 and Catalyst 6800 Series switches offer identical features and operational consistency, and the modular Catalyst 6807-XL supports the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T and the associated family of line cards and service modules. This mutual compatibility and program of ongoing enhancement protects your IT investment and allows you to upgrade your network backbone with little business disruption or IT staff training.

Shared features of Catalyst 6500 Series and Catalyst 6800 Series modular switches that have Cisco's Supervisor Engine 2T include Cisco's ISE technology for convenient, single-point control to ensure consistent policy throughout a distributed network, Virtual Switching System capability for maximum uptime via multi-level switchover, and Cisco's Campus Locator/ID Separation Protocol to facilitate client roaming and device mobility and to streamline network virtualization and migration to IPv6. Other virtual networking features to segment distinct client groups and support the unique security/compliance and QoS policy requirements of each group include Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPN, complete Multiprotocol Label Switching, Easy Virtual Network, VRF-aware applications for Network Address Translation (NAT) NetFlow, GRE for v4/v6, and L2 extensions with virtual private LAN services. For unified wired/wireless environments, the WiSM2 for Catalyst 6500 and Catalyst 6800 Series modular switches includes support for 1000 wireless access points and 15,000 wireless users.

Catalyst 6500-E Switches
The Catalyst 6500-E line of modular switches are designed for distribution and enterprise backbone environments that need world-class uptime and high concentrations of 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 1 Gigabit Ethernet fiber, or 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet access ports. Available versions come with three to 13 expansion slots and accept a wide range of interfaces. Integrated service modules enable wireless, traffic monitoring, and security and compliance. Only E-Series versions of Cisco's broad line of 6500 switches are compatible with Cisco's Supervisor Engine 2T.

The entry-level Cisco Catalyst 6503-E switch has a 4 rack unit (4RU) form factor, includes 3 slots, and offers as much as 180 Gbps of switching throughput on each slot. The Cisco Catalyst 6503-E can support up to 97 1-Gigabit Ethernet connections, up to 99 Gigabit Ethernet fiber ports, up to 34 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 8 40-Gigabit Ethernet ports.

The top-of-the-line Catalyst 6513-E switch has a 19 rack unit, 13-slot form factor and offers up to 180 Gbps of performance on each slot, with a system bandwidth as high as 4 Tbps. A VSS configuration can handle 8 Tbps of switching throughout. The Cisco Catalyst 6513-E Series switch offers up to 529 1 Gigabit Ethernet connections, up to 534 Gigabit Ethernet fiber ports, 180 10GE ports, and up to 44 40-Gigabit Ethernet connections.

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

The modular Catalyst 6807-XL switch has a 10-rack-unit chassis with 7 slots and accepts existing Supervisor Engine 2T line cards and modules. (Two slots are reserved for the Supervisor Engine and the other five are for modules.) The Catalyst 6807-XL switch offers as much as 880 Gbps of switching bandwidth per slot and up to 11.4 Tbps of switching capacity while handling up to 240 1 Gigabit Ethernet ports or 1GE fiber ports, up to 80 10GE ports or up to 20 40GE ports. an 6807-XL system with VSS can support 22.8 Tbps of switching throughput, 480 10/100/1000 Ethernet connections or 1GE fiber connections, 160 10GE ports or 40 40-Gigabit Ethernet ports.

How Progent Can Assist You with Catalyst Switches
Progent offers the remote or onsite expertise of CCIE-certified consultants who have extensive experience providing Catalyst switch technology solutions for small and midsize businesses, branch offices, campuses, data centers, Cloud environments, and service providers. Progent's areas of expertise include Cisco's Catalyst and Nexus lines of managed switches and Cisco's IOS, IOS-XR and NX-OS control software. Consulting and support services available from Progent's experts for Catalyst Series switches include pilot testing, system analysis, topology design, migrations and project management, network virtualization, wired/wireless unification, network management, capacity planning, troubleshooting, business continuity preparedness, and network security and compliance testing and validation.

Progent's Cisco-certified consultants have broad expertise with industry standards and with proprietary Cisco protocols and technologies associated with switching and routing such as Border Gateway Protocol, MPLS, PIM, VPNs, STP, VLANs, Cisco FabricPath, VPC, OTV, Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, OSPF, VSS, and Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP). Progent's network consultants also have familiarity with crucial networking technologies such as TCP/IP, IPv4/IPv6, EIGRP, Routing Information Protocol (RIP), and IGMP. Progent's CISSP-ISSAP certified information security consultants can show you how to create a comprehensive security and compliance plan and implement Catalyst switches so that they provide optimal enforcement to your security policies.

If you need the highest available Ethernet density or sub-microsecond latency Cisco switches for a world-class data center, Progent can help your organization to evaluate, design, and implement a transition to Cisco's Nexus switches. To learn about Progent's support capabilities for Cisco's Nexus Series switches, refer to Nexus Switch consulting and support services available from Progent. Progent can also assist you to connect Catalyst data center switches with Meraki distribution switches. (See Cisco Meraki switch integration consultants.)

To see more information concerning Progent's professional expertise for Cisco products, pick a topic:

• Introduction to Progent's Cisco Engineering Services
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• Cisco Firepower Series Firewalls: Integration and Management Services
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• Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting and Cisco Wireless IP Phone Integration
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• Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
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• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for an At-Home Workforce
• Design Solutions for Cisco-based Datacenters and Colocation Centers
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