Benefits of Upgrading to Cisco Catalyst 9500 Switches Feature Comparison

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Updated:June 4, 2024

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Table of Contents

 

 

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Why upgrade to the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Switches?

Reimagine, Reinforce, Redefine

Cisco® Catalyst® 9500 Series switches are Cisco’s lead fixed enterprise core and aggregation switching platform and as part of the Catalyst 9000 family, are build to transform your network to handle a hybrid world where the workplace is anywhere, endpoints could be anything, and applications are hosted all over the place.

The Catalyst 9500 Series, including the new Catalyst 9500X models, continues to shape the future with continued innovation that helps you reimagine connections, reinforce security and redefine the experience for your hybrid workforce big and small.

Table 1.           C9500X Upgrade Benefits Comparison

Trends

Features

Previous fixed core switches

Latest fixed core switch

Benefits

Cisco Catalyst 6880-X-LE

Cisco Catalyst 6880-X

Cisco Catalyst 9500X2 Models

Speed and performance

Chassis Bandwidth

2 Tbps

2 Tbps

12 Tbps

Support core 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G, 100G and 400G

10G

100G/400G

N/A

N/A

Max 1G Density

80 ports

80 ports

N/A

Max 10G Density

80 ports

80 ports

88 ports

Max 25G/50G

N/A

N/A

76 ports

Max 100G density

N/A

N/A

60 ports

Max 400G density

N/A

N/A

8 ports

Advanced security

Cisco TrustSec/SGT3

Orchestrate role based access to corporate resources by any user, with any device, from any location at any time

Cisco WAN MACsec provides a line-rate network encryption solution over Layer 2 Ethernet networks

Trustworthy Solutions

Native MACsec-256 encryption

128-bit

128-bit

WAN MACsec encryption

N/A

N/A

Scale

MAC Address (256k)

128k

128k

Unmatched forwarding scale  (MAC addresses, IP unicast and multicast routes, MPLS labels) and deep buffering for enterprise applications

Routes (2M)

128k

Flexible NetFlow (2M)

N/A

High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)

N/A

N/A

Simplicity and business agility

Programmability (NETCONF with YANG)

N/A

N/A

Simplicity and business agility

Application Hosting

N/A

N/A

GIR/Patching

N/A

N/A

Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly Cisco DNA Center) /
SD-Access4 programmability

Optional Subscription

Optional Subscription

1 G: Gigabit Ethernet
2 Q200: Silicon One ASIC
3 SGT: Security Group Tag
4 SD-Access: Software-Defined Access

Table 2.           C9500 Upgrade Benefits Comparison

Trends

Features

Previous Fixed Core Switches

Latest Fixed Core Switch

Benefits

Cisco Catalyst 6840-X-LE-40G

Cisco Catalyst 6880-X-LE

Cisco Catalyst 9500 UADP2 3.0

Advanced security

Chassis Bandwidth

1.92 Tbps

2 Tbps

up to 6.4 Tbps

Support core 10G, 25G, 40G, and 100G

10G

40G

N/A

100G

N/A

N/A

Max 10G Density

40 ports

80 ports

48 ports

Max 40G density

2

N/A

4 ports  40/100G

BYOD/Mobility

Cisco TrustSec/SGT3 for wired/wireless

Orchestrate role based access to corporate resources by any user, with any device, from any location at any time

Trustworthy Solutions

Native MACsec-256 encryption

128-bit

128-bit

Fabric-enabled Wireless

N/A

N/A

Enable converged wired wireless access for operational

Common wired-wireless features

N/A

N/A

UADP2 ASIC for wired-wireless convergence

N/A

N/A

Hierarchical wireless QoS

N/A

N/A

Simplicity and automation

Simplified Campus Automation

-

-

Optimized discovery and configuration of network devices

Programmability (NETCONF with YANG)

N/A

N/A

Simplicity and business agility

Application Hosting

N/A

N/A

GIR/Patching

N/A

N/A

Cisco Catalyst Center/SD-Access4 programmability

Optional Subscription

Optional Subscription

BGP EVPN with VXLAN

N/A

Optional Subscription

Meraki cloud monitoring

-

-

1G: Gigabit Ethernet
2 UADP ASIC: Unified Access Data Plane ASIC
3 SGT: Security Group Tag
4 SD-Access: Software-Defined Access

Trends

Features

Previous Fixed Core Switches

Latest Fixed Core Switch

Benefits

Cisco Catalyst 4500-X (32x10)

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Fiber

Cisco Catalyst 9500 UADP2 3.0

Scale and performance

Chassis Bandwidth

800 Gbps

960 Gbps

up to 6.4 Tbps

Support core 10G and 40G with uplink modules

10G

40G

N/A

Max 10 G density

40 ports

48 ports

48 ports

Max 40 G density

N/A

4 ports

4 ports 40/100G

Advanced security

Native Flexible NetFlow

N/A

Orchestrate role based access to corporate resources by any user, with any device, from any location at any time

Cisco TrustSec/SGT3 for wired/wireless

wired

Trustworthy Solutions

N/A

N/A

Native MACsec-256 encryption

N/A

mGig/10G models

BYOD/Mobility

Fabric-enabled Wireless

N/A

Enable converged wired-wireless access for operational simplicity and scale

Common wired-wireless features

N/A

UADP2 ASIC for wired-wireless convergence

N/A

Hierarchical wireless QoS

N/A

Common features for wired-wireless

N/A

Simplicity and automation

Programmability (NETCONF with YANG)

N/A

Simplicity and business agility

Application Hosting

N/A

Guestshell

GIR/Patching

N/A

N/A

Cisco Catalyst Center /SD-Access4 programmability

N/A

Optional Subscription

Meraki cloud monitoring

-

-

1 G: Gigabit Ethernet
2 UADP ASIC: Unified Access Data Plane ASIC
3 SGT: Security Group Tag
4 SD-Access: Software-Defined Access

     Reduced cost and complexity with Cisco Software-Defined Access by automating policy, enabling fast service creation and providing complete visibility into the wired and wireless access networks.

     Create better customer and employee experiences through higher performance and improved support for mobility and new apps.

     Advanced end-to-end security to handle threats before, during and after attacks.

The Catalyst 9000 Family is also the first in the line to offer the Cisco IOS XE and Cisco Catalyst Software subscription-based licenses, allowing customers to purchase the features and capabilities they need.
See the benefits you could be receiving now by comparing the Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series to older switches (see table 1).

Improve your results with our services

No matter where you are in your journey, Cisco and our partners offer services expertise to help you accelerate your digital network transformation – from upgrade and optimization services to award-winning support. We help you speed your upgrade deployments, reduce risk and complexity and provide business continuity as you refresh your network. To simplify and support your upgrade Cisco offers services to streamline the process and help you get the most out of your investment. The Upgrade Service helps control costs, improve operational excellence and mitigate risk during your refresh.

Learn more about all Services for Switches.

Finance your switching migration with Cisco Capital

Let financing from Cisco Capital make migrating your switches and accelerating your digital transformation even easier. Cisco Capital Easy Pay makes this transition as easy as possible with no upfront costs and predictable monthly payments. You pay 90% of the total over a three-year period that is completely interest free. At the end of the term, you have the following options to return and refresh the equipment, extend your lease or purchase the solution at 10% of original cost. Take advantage of this market leading interest rate and use your budget for other investments.

Take advantage of Cisco Capital Easy Pay.

 

 

 

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