Cisco Unveils 3-Slot Catalyst 6500

The new Catalyst 6503 complements Cisco's existing six, nine and 13-slot Catalyst 6500 series switches, said Kumar Srikantan, senior manager of product marketing for Cisco's Catalyst 6500 series.

Srikantan told CRN that the new three-slot chassis is a result of customer feedback. Large enterprise customers want one platform to support all the way down to the wiring closet, he said. By using one platform from the core to the wiring closet, customers can lower total cost of ownership through optimized compatibility, simplified configurations and reduced training and staffing costs, he said.

And with the 6500 series' 1- to 3-second stateful fail-over capability, customers can support latency sensitive applications, such as VoIP, in the wiring closet, he said.

Along with the 6503, Cisco introduced a new 48 port 10/100 line card that supports Cisco's inline power. The new module will also support the emerging IEEE 802.3af inline power standards via a user-installed daughter card to support standards-based VoIP wiring closet deployments in the future.

Available this month, the Catalyst 6503 chassis is list priced at $2,995. The 48-port 10/100 Ethernet modules are available now at a starting price of $5,995. The optional Cisco inline power daughter card for the modules is also available now at a starting price of $1,495.