Cisco Systems® announces a new 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module for the Cisco® Catalyst® 6500 Series. The 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module doubles the 10 Gigabit Ethernet density on the Catalyst 6500 Series, providing up to 64 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in a single Catalyst 6500 chassis. It is ideal for deployment in the data center for aggregating bandwidth from servers and in the LAN distribution layer for consolidating uplinks from the LAN access layer. Cisco is also announcing a price drop of the LX4 and SR X2 modular optics. This reduces per port 10 Gigabit Ethernet pricing by 30 percent, bringing this to a new price/performance level of 10 times the bandwidth at just 5 times the price of Gigabit Ethernet. The new 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module complements the existing integrated services on the Catalyst 6500 Series, enabling customers to build a scalable, resilient, and manageable data center to meet their growing business needs to consolidate and virtualize servers and storage to maximize resource utilization and drive down capital expenses.
Cisco data center switching delivers relentless velocity:
• Architecture scalability supports growth in any direction.
• Operational speed increases service velocity and IT staff productivity.
• Comprehensive resilience addresses many sources of downtime.
Both modules contain the WS-X6708-10GE base board and a distributed forwarding card. The base module supports up to eight pluggable X2 optics and has a 40 Gbps connection to the fabric and is therefore 2:1 oversubscribed. The distributed forwarding card provides hardware-based MAC learning and forwards traffic at 48 Mpps. The 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module can demonstrate up to 64 Gbps local switching. Besides increased port density, it also has increased port buffering and enhanced queuing and scheduling mechanisms for congestion management. See Table 1 for new features and benefits provided by the 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module and Table 2 for differences between the DFC3C and the DFC3CXL.
Table 1. New Features and Benefits
Feature
Description
Benefits
Increased port density
8-port per module
Up to 64 ports per chassis
Consolidating chassis for bandwidth aggregation
Increased port buffering
200MB per port
More efficient transmissions for long haul connections
New scheduler
Shaped Round Robin (SRR) in egress
More efficient handling of bursty traffic
New queuing mechanism
Differentiated services code point (DSCP)-based queue mapping
Allows both ingress and egress queuing based on Layer 3 TOS and provide more granular classes of traffic
Increased memory
Default 1 GB DRAM
Storage of larger forwarding table
Table 2. Differences Between DFC3C and DFC3CXL
DFC3C
DFC3CXL
IPv4 routes
256,000
1,000,000
IPv6 routes
128,000
500,000
NetFlow entries
128,000
256,000
Reflexive access control lists (ACLs)
128,000
256,000
The 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module is supported in the Catalyst 6500 Series chassis as well as Cisco 7600 Series Routers. When operating in an E-Series chassis (6503-E, 6504-E, 6506-E, 6509-E), the 6509-NEB-A chassis with dual fan tray, or 7604 chassis or 7609 chassis with dual fan tray, the configuration is NEBS 3 compliant (supports operating temperatures up to 55°C). When operating in a non-E-Series chassis (6506, 6509, 6513) or 6509-NEB-A with single fan tray, 7606/7613 chassis, or 7609 with single fan tray, fan tray 2 and 2500W or higher power supplies are required, and the configuration is not NEBS 3 compliant (supports operating temperatures up to 40°C only). The module can be deployed in all slots of a 3/4/6/9-slot chassis. When operating in a 13-slot chassis, it must be deployed in slots 9-13. It is not supported in the 6503 non-E Series chassis.
The 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module is interoperable with all models of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720, including WS-Sup720, WS-Sup720-3B, and WS-Sup720-3BXL. When mixing DFCs in the same chassis, the chassis will operate in the mode of the lowest common denominator.
The following optics will be supported on the 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module at FCS: X2-10GB-SR, X2-10GB-LR, X2-10GB-ER, X2-10GB-LX4, X2-10GB-CX4. Only the -02 version or later of these optics will be supported on this 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module. The -01 version of the optics is not supported. The SR optics provide 26m over FDDI-grade multimode fiber and are ideal for deployment in data center for server aggregation. The LX4 optics provide 300m over multimode fiber and are ideal for deployment in campus LAN uplinks.
Both versions of the 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet module are supported today in both Cisco IOS® Software and Cisco IOS Software Modularity.
Table 3 provides orderability and shipping date information. Table 4 describes minimum software requirements. Table 5 provides ordering information.
Availability
Table 3. Orderability and Shipping Dates for the 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module and Optics
Part Number
Orderability
First Customer Ship (FCS)
Catalyst 6500 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Modules
WS-X6708-10G-3C
Now
Shipping (initially on new product hold; expect lead times to be 6-8 weeks)
WS-X6708-10G-3CXL
Now
Shipping (initially on new product hold; expect lead times to be 6-8 weeks.)
1Version -02 of these optics or above is required. Version -02 of these optics has been shipping since
WS-X6708-10G-3C and WS-X6708-10G-3CXL first shipped. See Catalyst 6500 8-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Q&A or 12.2SX release notes for more details.
Minimum Software Requirements
Table 4. Minimum Software Requirements for the 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module
Part Number
Minimum Software
WS-X6708-10G-3C
12.2(18)SXF5
WS-X6708-10G-3CXL
12.2(18)SXF5
Ordering Information
Table 5. Ordering Information for Catalyst 6500 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module and Optics
