MLS is such a broad term. There are 3 meanings for support of MLS:
1. Packet Forwarding in Hardware
2. Inline Rewrite in Hardware
3. Traditional MLS based on Cat5k.
All current L3 switches do packet forwarding in hardware (1). Switches such as the Catalyst 5500/6500 do packet forwarding in hardware and have inline rewrite capability. (2). The Cat5k can do traditional MLS. (3)
The lowest L3 switch that does packet forwarding in hardware is the Catalyst 3550. It uses central rewrites and not inline rewrites.
