Benefits of upgrading to Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches Feature Comparison
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Why upgrade to the Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series Switches?
Reimagine, Reinforce, Redefine your campus core
Cisco® Catalyst® 9600 Series switches are Cisco’s lead modular enterprise core switching platform and as part of the Catalyst 9000 family, are build to transform your network to handle a hybrid world where the workplace is anywhere, endpoints could be anything, and applications are hosted all over the place.
The Catalyst 9600 Series continues to shape the future with continued innovation that helps you reimagine connections, reinforce security and redefine the experience for your hybrid workforce big and small.
The new Catalyst 9600 SUP-2 supervisor is based on Cisco Silicon One Q200 Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which is purpose built for the next generation core with a programmable pipeline (P4) and is the first network silicon to offer switching capacity upto 25.6 Tbps (12.8 Tbps full-duplex) in the enterprise. The Q200 ASIC offers high-performance along with full routing and switching capabilities without external memories. This is enabled by a multiple slice (discreet processing pipeline) internal architecture that includes an on-chip 2.5D High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). The Catalyst 9600 Series leverages a high-performance multiple core x86 CPU, and is Cisco’s leading purpose-built modular core and WAN edge services enterprise switching platform, built for security, IoT, and cloud.
| Trends |
Features |
Previous Modular Core Switches |
Latest modular |
Benefits |
||
| Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series |
Cisco Catalyst 6500/6800 Series |
Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series |
||||
| Scale and performance versatility |
Chassis bandwidth |
720 Gbps |
up to 2 Tbps |
up to 6 Tbps |
up to 25.6 Tbps |
Better mix and variety of higher speeds with longevity of future upgrades without replacing switch. Line rate 400G, 200G, 100G, 50G, 40G, 25G, 10G |
| Throughput |
450 Mpps |
720 Mpps |
780 Mpps |
8 Bpps |
||
| 400 Gbps (QSFP=DD) 200 Gbps (QSFP56) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
✓ |
||
| 100 Gbps (QSFP28) 40 Gbps (QSFP+) |
N/A |
40 G only |
40 G only |
✓ |
||
| 50 Gbps (SFP56) 25 Gbps (SFP28) |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
✓ |
||
| Functionality |
SD-Access2 |
N/A |
Limited |
Limited |
✓ |
Next generation overlay support for segmentation and policy based management with integrated threat detection and mitigation. Advanced L2+L3 functionality for aggregation and border nodes with open programmable interfaces. |
| MPLS-VPN |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
| Programmability |
N/A |
Limited |
Limited |
✓ |
||
| Application hosting/containers |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
✓ |
||
| High availability |
Stackwise virtual |
N/A |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
Higher reliability by way of link, component and switch redundancy. Better manageability via hitless software upgrades. |
| ISSU |
N/A |
Limited |
Limited |
✓ |
||
| GIR/NSF |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
✓ |
||
| Hot patching |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
✓ |
||
| Security |
Macro and micro segmentation |
N/A |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
Enable converged wired-wireless access for operational simplicity and scale. |
| MACsec-256 bit encryption |
128 bit |
128 bit |
128 bit |
✓ |
||
| TrustSec end-point security |
N/A |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
||
| Trustworthy solutions |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
● Reduced cost, complexity and downtime with Cisco Software-Defined Access. Automate policy, enable fast service creation and get 360-degree contextual insights across users, devices, and applications. Assure network performance with real-time and historical data analytics, to learn, adapt, and even detect problems before they happen.
● Create better customer and employee experiences through higher performance and improved support for mobility and new apps.
● Advanced end-to-end security designed to work together to detect and stop threats, simplify security complexity, keep your business more secure and make your IT more productive.
The Catalyst 9000 family is also the first in the line to offer the Cisco IOS XE and Cisco DNA subscription-based software licenses, allowing customers to purchase the features and capabilities they need. See the benefits you could be receiving now by comparing the Cisco Catalyst 9600 Series to older switches (see table 1).
Improve your results with our services
No matter where you are in your journey, Cisco and our partners offer services expertise to help you accelerate your digital network transformation – from upgrade and optimization services to award-winning support. We help you speed your upgrade deployments, reduce risk and complexity and provide business continuity as you refresh your network. To simplify and support your upgrade Cisco offers services to streamline the process and help you get the most out of your investment. The upgrade Service helps control costs, improve operational excellence and mitigate risk during your refresh.
Learn more about all Services for Switches
Finance your switching migration with Cisco Capital
Let financing from Cisco Capital make migrating your switches and accelerating your digital transformation even easier. Cisco Capital Easy Pay makes this transition as easy as possible with no upfront costs and predictable monthly payments. You pay 90% of the total over a three-year period that is completely interest free. At the end of the term, you have the following options to return and refresh the equipment, extend your lease or purchase the solution at 10% of original cost. Take advantage of this market leading interest rate and use your budget for other investments.
Take advantage of Cisco Capital Easy Pay