40G aggregation with Catalyst switches (and Cat6800 questions)

[anders.nilsson@umu.se]

Hi,

What catalyst platform do I use to aggregate my cat3850 switches with 2port 40G uplinks?  Still missing a 40 line card to my 6807XL chassis.  Any plans for a 12port 40G 3850?

Also what released line cards benefits from the improved fabric speed on the new Sup6T?

Locking at your marking of the Supervisor 6T it talks about investment protection http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/catalyst-6800-series-switches/index.html you market cat6800 as ready for 40/100G but no such line card is yet to be found.

I think it's time for Cisco to show their plans and intentions with the Cat6800 platform since we can't seriously motivate any further investments in the 6807XL platform if we can't get any proper 40G and 100G linecards beginning of next year.

Cheers

Anders Nilsson

Network consultant Umeå university and leader of the Swedish SUNET Techical Reference Group

[cweinhold]

Anders,

Catalyst 3850 will be available with 12- 24-port 40G QSFP in the coming months. It has no dedicated stack ports, but can stack through the QSFP's.

Catalyst 6807-XL and Sup-6T are a different story...  Although initially advertised as "optimized for 10 / 40 / 100 Gbps", the latest 6807-XL data sheet has been scrubbed to read "optimized for high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet and capable of supporting 40 Gigabit Ethernet." The Sup6T architecture doc still refers to "Next-Generation Line cards" and you can even find pictures of them suggesting a release date of Q3 or Q4 2016.  They hopefully will be released, but you shouldn't hold your breath...

Within Cisco, the Nexus 7K products are now under the business unit responsible for Catalyst switching products, and partners have been told to lead with Nexus 7700 instead of Catalyst 6800. E.g., a Nexus 7706 has twice the port density as a Cat 6807-XL, and the ports aren't oversubscribed.

-Craig