Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches with Cisco Hypershield At a Glance
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Secure data center networks for the agentic era AI and agentic workloads from modern applications are reshaping the data center, generating machine-scale east/west traffic, connecting hyper-distributed workload types, and evolving faster than traditional security architectures can keep pace.
Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches change the equation, fusing proven Cisco Nexus® networking with programmable Data Processing Units (DPUs) to enforce security inline, right where the workloads live. Cisco Hypershield™ centralizes security policy and distributes enforcement across every point in the fabric, so your security posture scales as fast as your environment does.
The result: a data center built to secure the AI agentic era, without the complexity, latency, or cost of traditional architectures.
Table 1. Fuse security with networking
| Contain Threats Closer |
Scale Without Chokepoints |
Simplify operations |
| Enforce stateful segmentation directly in the fabric. |
Distribute security services across switches instead of relying only on centralized appliances. |
Combine networking, security enforcement, and telemetry in a compact platform. |
Cisco Hypershield defines the policy. Cisco 9300 Series Smart Switches enforce it.
Consistent protection across every workload
Table 2. One policy, distributed enforcement, clear operational ownership.
| Consistent policy across Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches and workload agents Enforcement closer to applications and data Less traffic hairpinning through centralized inspection points |
Shared network and security context for faster troubleshooting Independent NetOps and NetSecOps control with coordinated outcomes |
Architectures that create value
| Customer need |
How N9300 Smart Switches and Hypershield deliver |
| Top-of-rack segmentation |
Turn the access layer into a distributed enforcement point for connected workloads |
| Zone-based segmentation |
Apply high-scale, stateful policy between application, tenant, and security zones |
| Data-center interconnect and |
Combine routing, segmentation, and security services in a compact platform |
| Mixed and agentless workloads |
Extend protection to workloads where installing host agents is impractical |
N9348Y2C6D-SE1U | 48-port top-of-rack
N9324C-SE1U | 24-port services
Table 3. Cisco N9300 Smart Switches
| Model |
Connectivity |
Services capacity |
Designed for |
| N9348Y2C6D-SE1U |
48 x 25G, 2 x 100G, 6 x 400G |
800G DPU |
Top-of-rack and east/ |
| N9324C-SE1U |
24 x 100G |
800G DPU |
Zone segmentation, cloud edge, and |
Both models combine a Cisco® Silicon One® E100 networking ASIC with programmable AMD DPUs.
Table 4. Clear operational ownership
| Team |
Management tools |
Primary responsibility |
| NetOps |
Cisco NX-OS, Nexus Dashboard, and NX-API |
Fabric connectivity, routing, switch lifecycle, |
| NetSecOps |
Hypershield on-premises controller or |
Security policy, stateful segmentation, compliance, and |
Purpose-built controls for each team, with shared context for coordinated operations and faster troubleshooting.
“With the Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches, we brought together high-performance networking, stateful segmentation and policy enforcement into a single platform. That let us modernize our infrastructure and strengthen security without adding complexity or compromising performance.”
Kevin Ludwig,
AVP of Information Technology, XiFin, Inc.
On-premises and air-gapped: Use the Cisco Hypershield on-premises controller for local security management.
Connected: Integrate with Cisco Security Cloud Control for cloud-based management and broader visibility.
Table 5. Build security
| Build security into your next data center refresh Start with the network. Add distributed enforcement where it is needed. |
SMART SWITCH + HYPERSHIELD |
● Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches
● Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches Data Sheet
● Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches FAQ
Capabilities, licensing, scale, and availability depend on the applicable software release and subscription. Confirm current requirements with Cisco documentation or your Cisco representative.
● Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switches
● Cisco N9300 Series Smart Switch Data Sheet
● Cisco Hypershield Data Sheet
● Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution
● Cisco Security Cloud Control
● Cisco Nexus One Solution Overview