48 port 10/100/100 for 6500

[travis-dennis_2]

Does anyone have any idea when a 48 port 10/100/1000 module will be available for the 6500 series? Therre is already one for to 4000/45000 series. I am a little comfused as to why there is not one for the 6500's.

[7rbowenii]

Travis-Dennis,

The 6500 comes standard with a 32GB backplane. If you purchase the X-bar, you can upgrade to a 256GB backplane. Cisco does offer a 16 (or 24?) port 10/100/1000 TX card for the 6500, but even the 1000fx cards that they have that are x-bar compliant only have 16 ports. I'm sure that as the x-bar becomes more popular (read: affordable) there will be a push to create a denser 10/100/1000 card. It isn't necessarily a good business move for Cisco to produce a card that the backplane of their switches aren't capable of pushing the total load on (although Cisco has been known to do this in the past). -Just my 2 cents....

[shamilton-wilkes]

I think it's about product placement; the 4000 /4500 is a high end closet switch, lots of oversubscribed cards are available - the 18 port gigabit, and both 48 port ones (10/100/1000 and 1000lx)

the 6500 is a core/ data center switch, oversubscription is discouraged by card availability.

I suspect that a 48 port 10/100/1000 blade will turn up next year though, because I know customers that use 6500's in big closets and downgrading to 4500's isn't appealing for them or Cisco.