Benefits of Upgrading to Cisco Catalyst 9500 Switches Feature Comparison
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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) / |
Optional Subscription |
Optional Subscription |
✓ |
||
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 |
- |
- |
✓ |
||
| 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 |
- |
- |
✓ |
||
● 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.