Cisco 3850 SFP Fiber Switch Reviews & Overview

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series is the next generation of enterprise-class stackable Ethernet access and aggregation layer switches support layer 3, 1000Mbps, 24/48 ports, POE&POE+, and is stackable, which provide full convergence between wired and wireless on a single platform.

What Is a Layer 3 Switch?

A Layer 3 switch is a high-performance device for network routing. Layer 3 switches actually differ very little from routers. A Layer 3 switch can support the same routing products as network routers do. Both inspect incoming packets and make dynamic routing decisions based on the source and destination addresses inside. Both types of boxes share a similar appearance.

Layer 3 switches were conceived as a technology to improve on the performance of routers used in large local area networks(LANs) like corporate intranets. The key difference between Layer 3 switches and routers lies in the hardware technology used to build the unit. The hardware inside a Layer 3 switch merges that of traditional switches and Cisco routers, replaceing some of a router’s software logic with hardware to offer better performance in some situations.

Layer 3 switches offen cost less than traditional routers. Designed for use within local networks, a Layer 3 switch will typically not possess the WAN ports and wide area network features a traditional router will always have.

Cisco Catalyst 3850 SFP Fiber Switches, Highlights

• Built on Cisco UADP ASIC, support full programmability for Cisco Enterprise Network Architecture
• Support for a wide range of pluggable transceiver modules for longer physical distance and enhanced physical security
• Integrated wireless LAN controller functionality in Converged Access mode
• Cisco StackWise-480 and Cisco StackPower technologies for resiliency
• Native Flexible NetFlow (FnF) on all ports for extensive application visibility
• Native Cisco TrustSec support for user segmentation and end user/device/location security
• Support for Cisco Unified Access with ISE and Cisco Prime
• SDN OpenFlow and OnePK ready with support for Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module (APIC-EM) in a future software release

Catalyst 3850 SFP Fiber Switches, Primary Features

• 12 or 24 1G fiber data ports at line rate on every port
• Two optional uplink modules with 4 x Gigabit Ethernet or 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports
• Cisco StackWise-480 technology to provide scalability and resiliency with 480 Gbps of stack throughput and full stackability with other Cisco Catalyst 3850 fixed GE access switches
• Cisco StackPower technology to provide power stacking among stack members for power redundancy
• Dual redundant power supplies (AC and DC) and three modular fans, providing higher redundancy
• Software support for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast routing, modular QoS, Flexible NetFlow and advanced security features
• Single, consistent Cisco IOS XE Software image with IP Base and IP Services, providing an easy upgrade path for software features
• Enhanced limited lifetime warranty (E-LLW) with next business day advance hardware replacement and 90-day access to Cisco Technical Assistance Center
• Integrated wireless LAN controller capability with up to 20 Gbps of wireless capacity per switch or stack and up to 50 access points and 2000 wireless clients on each switch or stack

More related topics:

Cisco 3750 to 3850 QoS Conversion Commands

The Difference between 3750 MLS QoS and 3850 MQC QoS

How to Use the Auto-Upgrade Feature on the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Switch