3550 SMI & EMI

[j.mccartney]

What is the difference with these versions? Is there anything that is added on the hardware or is it just a diff IOS version that can be downloaded from Cisco?

Thanks for straightening me out.

[Prashanth Krishnappa · Accepted solution]

The following Q&A should help

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/si/casi/ca3550/prodlit/c3550_qp.htm

Q. What is the difference between the EMI and the SMI?

A. The Cisco Catalyst 3550-24, 3550-48, and 3550-24PWR switches can be ordered with the SMI or the EMI. The Cisco Catalyst 3550-24-DC and 3550-24-FX can only be ordered with the SMI pre-installed, but as with all switches running the SMI, they can be upgraded to the EMI version using an EMI upgrade kit. The Cisco Catalyst 3550-12T and 3550-12G switches come installed with EMI. The EMI enables a richer set of enterprise-class features including, advanced hardware-based IP unicast and multicast routing, Policy Based Routing (PBR) and the Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP). Additional details about the differences between the SMI and EMI are provided later in this document.

It is not a free upgrade. You'll need to purchase the upgrade license