Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches Data Sheet

 

Overview

Cisco^® C9550 Series Smart Switches deliver high-throughput Ethernet switching and integrated security for enterprise core and aggregation networks.

Built on Cisco Silicon One^™ application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches provide high-density Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) downlink ports up to 50 Gigabit Ethernet (50G) and Quad SFP (QSFP) uplink ports up to 400G, or consistent QSFP ports up to 100G. By combining hardware switching and routing into a single platform, you can reduce infrastructure complexity and cost. Integrated security capabilities include continuous zero-trust security, inline threat protection with Cisco Live Protect, and hardware support for post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms and encryption to address emerging decryption risks. These capabilities enable organizations to safeguard against future attacks using quantum computers and offer protection against zero-day attacks on software vulnerabilities.

Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches simplify IT operations by unifying hardware, software, and support, regardless of how you choose to manage your network.

●     Unified hardware: Common hardware designed to support any management mode

●     Unified licensing: Common licensing that unlocks advanced features and capabilities across platforms

●     Unified support: Consistent and reliable product support for both hardware and software included with the unified licenses

Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switch models

Series highlights

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches provide fixed enterprise core and aggregation switching for enterprise networks that span campuses, branch, and cloud environments. They support secure connectivity for distributed users, diverse device types, and applications deployed across on-premises and cloud infrastructure.

Table 1.           C9550 Series key features and benefits

¹ C9550 models: Feature is not available at FCS, but it is hardware capable.

Cisco IOS XE

Cisco IOS^® XE is the operating system for the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches. It provides model-driven programmability with NETCONF, RESTCONF, and YANG, along with on-box Python scripting, streaming telemetry, and container-based application hosting. It supports in-service patching for critical bug fixes and includes built-in protection against runtime attacks.

IOS XE enables consistent operations across management models. It supports on-premises, cloud-based, and hybrid management out of the box, allowing teams to use one operating system across deployment environments.

Table 2.           Cisco IOS XE key features and benefits

¹Software capability will be available in a future release.

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches come in both 1-rack-unit (1RU) and 2RU form factors. A fully assembled C9550 Series Smart Switch includes the fixed chassis, five modular fan units for 1RU and three modular fan units for 2RU, at least one field-replaceable power supply with the option to add a redundant power supply, and associated accessories.

Front view of the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches

Table 3.           Cisco C9550 front-panel components

Rear view of the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches

Table 4.           Cisco C9550 rear-panel components

Chassis

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches are fixed for enterprise core and aggregation deployments that require high port density and high-speed uplinks.

The platform provides:

●     High-density 50/25/10/1G downlinks ports for access and aggregation

●     400/100/40G uplink ports for campus connectivity

The C9550 Series uses Cisco Silicon One E100 and E104 ASICs and delivers up to 6.4 Tbps of throughput and up to 3.9 billion packets per second (Bpps). The switches support:

●     1 IPv4 route

●     Up to 128,000 MAC addresses

●     Up to 256,000 hashable ternary content-addressable memory (HCAM) entries for scalable ACLs and NetFlow

These specifications enable large-scale segmentation, traffic analysis, and policy enforcement in enterprise networks.

For additional details on the Cisco Silicon One ASICs used in the C9550 Series, refer to the Cisco Silicon One Product Family White Paper.

Table 5.           Chassis features

Table 6.           Chassis specifications

Fan units

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches are equipped with five 14,000 rpm fan modules on the 1RU models and three 34,000 rpm fan modules on the 2RU models. These fan tray units support N+1 redundancy and are field-replaceable, with the added flexibility to choose the direction of airflow (either front to back or back to front). Front-to-back fans are designated by a burgundy color, and back-to-front by a blue color.

Note: All C9550 fan units must be the same type. Mix and match of fan trays is not supported.

Field-replaceable fan units for 1RU models

Field-replaceable fan units for 2RU model

Table 7.           Fan modules

Power supplies

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches support dual power supplies with 1+1 redundancy. The switches ship with one power supply by default, and a second power supply can be purchased when the switch is ordered or at a later time. The 1RU models are powered by the 750W AC PSU, and the 2RU model is powered by the 1100W AC PSU.

750W AC and 1100W AC power supplies

Table 8.           Power supply specifications

Table 9.           Total output in BTU for C9550 switches with AC PSU (Note: 1000 BTU/hr = 293W)

Cisco C9550 Series models

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches are fixed core and distribution switches designed for enterprise networks that require high port density and high-speed uplinks. The platforms support:

●     Up to 96 ports of 50/25/10/1G access connectivity

●     Up to 4 uplink ports of 400/100/40G

Built on Cisco Silicon One E100 and E104 ASICs, the switches provide predictable performance and support advanced features such as advanced programmability, telemetry, and on-box application hosting. An x86-based control plane enables automation and container-based services directly on the switch, reducing the need for external compute resources.

Cisco C9550-24L4CD

The Cisco C9550-24L4CD

C9550-24L4CD use cases

●     The Cisco C9550-24L4CD is designed primarily for the core and distribution layers of small to medium-sized enterprise campus networks. It can also be used as a fabric border for small to medium-sized fabric networks.

●     The C9550-24L4CD serves as a consolidation point for multiple 50/25/10/1G SFP access switches, aggregating traffic into a 400/100/40G QSFP high-bandwidth backbone.

C9550-24L4CD highlights

●     The Cisco C9550-24L4CD control plane uses an AMD 3.0-GHz x86 CPU with four cores and 16 GB of DDR5 memory.

◦    Up to 960 GB of SATA SSD local storage for container-based application hosting.

●     The C9550-24L4CD data plane is powered by a single Silicon One E104 ASIC, delivering up to 3.2 Tbps of throughput.

◦    Each E104 ASIC offers speeds up to 6.4 Tbps (3.2 Tbps full duplex) with up to 2.6 Bpps of forwarding performance.

◦    64 MB of dedicated low-latency shared-memory system (SMS) buffer.

◦    ASIC tables for switching scale up to 64,000 MAC addresses and IP routing scale up to 512,000 routes.

◦    IPv6 support in hardware provides wire-rate forwarding for IPv6 networks.

◦    Flexible routing (IPv4, IPv6, and multicast) tables, Layer 2 tables, ACL tables, and NetFlow tables.

●     The C9550-24L4CD supports 24 ports of 50/25/10/1G as downlinks and four 100/40G or two 400G ports as fixed uplinks.

◦    Next-generation Cisco Smart Stacking with StackWise Virtual front-side stacking on all ports.

Cisco C9550-48L4CD

The Cisco C9550-48L4CD

C9550-48L4CD use cases

●     The Cisco C9550-48L4CD is designed primarily for the core and distribution layers of medium-sized to large enterprise campus networks. It can also be used as a fabric border or aggregation for medium-sized to large fabric networks.

●     The C9550-48L4CD serves as a consolidation point for multiple 50/25/10/1G SFP access switches, aggregating traffic into a 400/100/40G QSFP high-bandwidth backbone.

C9550-48L4CD highlights

●     The Cisco C9550-48L4CD control plane uses an AMD 3.0-GHz x86 CPU with four cores and 16 GB of DDR5 memory.

◦    Up to 960 GB of SATA SSD local storage for container-based application hosting.

●     The C9550-48L4CD data plane is powered by a single Silicon One E104 ASIC, delivering up to 3.2 Tbps of throughput.

◦    Each E104 ASIC offers speeds up to 6.4 Tbps (3.2 Tbps full duplex) with up to 2.6 Bpps of forwarding performance.

◦    64 MB of dedicated low-latency SMS buffer.

◦    ASIC tables for switching scale up to 64,000 MAC addresses and IP routing scale up to 512,000 routes.

◦    IPv6 support in hardware provides wire-rate forwarding for IPv6 networks.

◦    Flexible routing (IPv4, IPv6, and multicast) tables, Layer 2 tables, ACL tables, and NetFlow tables.

●     The C9550-48L4CD supports 48 ports of 50/25/10/1G as downlinks and four 100/40G or two 400G ports as fixed uplinks.

◦    Next-generation Cisco Smart Stacking with StackWise Virtual front-side stacking on all ports.

Cisco C9550-96L4D

The Cisco C9550-96L4D

C9550-96L4D use cases

●     The Cisco C9550-96L4D is designed primarily for the edge, core, and distribution layers of very large enterprise campus networks. It can also be used as a fabric border or aggregation for large fabric networks, or for campus edge or gateway (internet) deployments that require high IPv4 or IPv6 route scale.

●     The C9550-96L4D serves as a double-size consolidation point for multiple 50/25/10/1G SFP access switches, aggregating traffic into a 400/100/40G QSFP high-bandwidth backbone.

C9550-96L4D highlights

●     The Cisco C9550-96L4D control plane uses an AMD 3.3-GHz x86 CPU with eight cores and 32 GB of DDR5 memory.

◦    Up to 960 GB of SATA SSD local storage for container-based application hosting.

●     The C9550-96L4D data plane is powered by a single Silicon One E100 ASIC, delivering up to 6.4 Tbps of throughput.

◦    Each E100 ASIC offers speeds up to 12.8 Tbps (6.4 Tbps full duplex) with up to 3.9 Bpps of forwarding performance.

◦    64 MB of dedicated low-latency SMS buffer.

◦    ASIC tables for switching scale up to 128,000 MAC addresses and IP routing scale up to 1M routes.

◦    IPv6 support in hardware provides wire-rate forwarding for IPv6 networks.

◦    Flexible routing (IPv4, IPv6, and multicast) tables, Layer 2 tables, ACL tables, and NetFlow tables.

●     The C9550-96L4D supports 96 ports of 50/25/10/1G as downlinks and four ports of 400/100/40G as fixed uplinks.

◦    Next-generation Cisco Smart Stacking with StackWise Virtual front-side stacking on all ports.

Software features

Cisco IOS XE, running on the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches, delivers a robust, scalable, and secure platform tailored for the modern hybrid workplace. The C9550 Series supports advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding capabilities, increased forwarding and access control scale, and hardware-based encryption, delivering high performance and security for the modern enterprise campus.

Table 10.       IOS XE feature highlights for the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches

^1. C9550 models: Feature is not available at FCS, but it is hardware capable.

^2. Available for the C9550 platform only.

For a detailed list of the latest software features available on the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches per Cisco IOS XE release, please refer to the Cisco Feature Navigator tool.

For a detailed list of the software features available in each license, please refer to the Unified Licensing section below, or visit the Cisco Switching Licensing Feature Matrix.

Get more from your Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switch with the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Compare platforms, determine common features between products, and identify unique product features. Access Cisco Feature Navigator

Performance and scalability

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches powered by the Silicon One E100 and E104 ASICs, deliver up to 6.4 Tbps throughput, offering scalable performance and high-density connectivity.

Table 11.       Performance and scalability features

¹ Multiple security ACL types are supported. Only the first type can use the expanded scale.

Table 12.       Bandwidth specifications

Switch Device Manager (SDM) templates

Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches use flexible SDM ASIC templates to enable universal deployments by leveraging the ASIC’s ability to flexibly allocate resources to optimize table sizes for different places in the network.

Based on how the switch is used in the network, an appropriate standard ASIC SDM template may be configured for specific features. The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches support the following ASIC SDM templates:

●     Standard SDM templates: These are predefined (static) templates based on the primary requirements for specific places in the network.

◦    This includes the “default” SDM template, which is available without configuration. The default SDM template for the Cisco C9550 Series is the “core” template.

Default ASIC SDM template

The following table describes the default ASIC SDM (core) template for the C9550 Series Smart Switches.

Table 13.       ASIC SDM template descriptions

¹ IPv4 and IPv6 entries coexist in the same tables, but IPv6 entries require two entries.

² Feature is not available at FCS but will be available in future software releases.

Management

The ability to manage these devices from the cloud brings enhanced scalability, flexibility, and efficiency through central configuration management, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Users opting to leverage the cloud-native capabilities of IOS XE retain advanced control from the cloud through the implementation of Cloud CLI to access read and write commands based on their selected operating mode.

Unified experience

The Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches deliver a seamless onboarding experience to the management mode of your choice, allowing you to select the management options that best match your operational needs.

Cloud management via the Meraki dashboard

The Cisco Meraki^™ dashboard is a cloud-native network management platform that streamlines the provisioning, configuration, and monitoring of your Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches while reducing IT overhead. Through the guided onboarding workflow, you can choose the operating mode that fits your needs.

1.     Configuration source: Cloud: Full cloud-managed provisioning and monitoring plus read-only Cloud CLI terminal for advanced troubleshooting via the Meraki dashboard. For details on cloud management with the cloud configuration, see Configuration: Cloud in the Cloud Management with IOS XE Overview.

2.     Configuration source: Device:¹ Configuration through console, Secure Shell (SSH), or command-line interface (CLI), complemented by centralized monitoring and the read/write Cloud CLI terminal via the Meraki dashboard. For details on cloud management with the device configuration, see Configuration: Device in the Cloud Management with IOS XE Overview.

The Cisco Meraki dashboard also supports inventory and license management for the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches without fully onboarding them for cloud or device configuration.

¹ Available in a future release.

On-premises management¹

Cisco Catalyst^™ Center, formerly Cisco DNA Center, is a powerful on-premises network controller and management dashboard that empowers you to take charge of your network, optimize your Cisco investment, and lower your IT spending. Catalyst Center provides a single dashboard for every fundamental management task to simplify running your network. With this platform, IT can respond to changes and challenges faster and more intelligently.

Catalyst Center provides coverage for Cisco enterprise switching, routing, and mobility products. For a complete list of Cisco products supported, please see our compatibility matrix, which is updated regularly.

For more information on Catalyst Center support, see the webpage.

¹ Available in a future release.

Licensing

Unified licensing

Unified licensing in a Cisco Networking Subscription or an Enterprise Agreement is available for the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches.

To learn more about the Cisco Networking Subscription, go to the data sheet.

Cisco Smart Accounts

Licenses are managed on-premises through Cisco Smart Accounts. For a more detailed overview on licensing, go to the Cisco Licensing Hub.

Creating Smart Accounts using the Cisco Smart Software Manager (SSM) enables you to order devices and licensing packages and manage your software licenses from a centralized website. You can set up Cisco SSM to receive daily email alerts and to be notified of expiring add-on licenses.

Cisco Smart Licensing is a flexible licensing model that provides you with an easier, faster, and more consistent way to purchase and manage software across the Cisco portfolio and across your organization. And it is secure— you control what users can access.

Cisco Enterprise Agreements

The Cisco Enterprise Agreement (EA) is a flexible licensing solution that simplifies the purchase, management, and deployment of Cisco technologies.

By combining multiple Cisco software products and services into one agreement, the EA provides easy access to a wide range of products, including networking, security, collaboration, and data center solutions.

This approach reduces administrative tasks, offers predictable costs, and allows for scalability and adaptability. With the flexibility of the Cisco EA, organizations can drive digital transformation and innovation while maintaining control over their IT investments. For more information, go to the Cisco Enterprise Agreement webpage.

Migration essentials

Customer stories

Read, hear, and watch what our customers have to say about how Cisco technology is pushing the limits to bring better, more secure outcomes for them and those they serve.

See what customers are saying

Trials and offers

To connect with a Cisco sales expert, build your own estimate, or find a partner, visit our How to Buy hub.

Ordering information

The following section lists the ordering information for switches and accessories that are commonly used with the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches.

For a detailed overview of the ordering process, please visit the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switches Ordering Guide.

We recommend working with a Cisco partner to purchase.

●     Contact sales

●     Find a partner

●     Create an estimate

Warranty

The following table provides information about the Cisco C9550 Series product warranty.

Table 14.       Limited Lifetime Warranty (LLW) details

Sustainability profile

Cisco is embedding sustainability into the product lifecycle, from manufacturing to end of use. Designed with consideration for Cisco Circular Design Principles, our products feature both individual and portfolio-wide programs and innovations, including those that address efficient architecture design, power consumption, energy management, packaging sustainability, and takeback. These elements are pivotal in reducing operational costs and advancing net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets and other sustainability-related ambitions.

Information about Cisco environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and performance is available in the Cisco Purpose Reporting Hub. Information regarding Cisco’s compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations is available in the Environmental Standards and Compliance section.

Table 15.       Sustainability references

The information presented in this data sheet is based on the most accurate and reliable information available at the time of publication. This information should not be interpreted as a definitive, exhaustive, or permanent representation of product performance or features. This information may be subject to future updates as new data becomes available.

Safety and compliance

Chassis

The table below lists the safety and compliance information for the Cisco C9550 Series Smart Switch chassis.

Table 16.       Chassis safety and compliance information

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