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DATA SHEET
CISCO CATALYST 3550 SERIES
INTELLIGENT ETHERNET SWITCHES
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
The Cisco Catalyst
®
3550 Series Intelligent Ethernet Switches is a line of enterprise-class, stackable, multilayer switches that provide high
availability, security and quality of service (QoS) to enhance the operation of the network. With a range of Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet
configurations, the Catalyst 3550 Series can serve as both a powerful access layer switch for medium enterprise wiring closets and as a backbone
switch for small networks. Customers can deploy network-wide intelligent services, such as advanced QoS, rate-limiting, Cisco security access
control lists, multicast management, and high-performance IP routing—while maintaining the simplicity of traditional local area network (LAN)
switching. Embedded in the Catalyst 3550 Series is the Cisco Cluster Management Suite (CMS) Software, which allows users to simultaneously
configure and troubleshoot multiple Catalyst desktop switches using a standard Web browser. Cisco CMS Software provides new configuration
wizards that greatly simplify the implementation of converged networks and intelligent network services.
The Catalyst 3550-24 PWR switch can provide a lower total cost of ownership for deployments that incorporate Cisco IP phones and/or Cisco
Aironet wireless LAN access points. With up to 15 Watts of integrated inline power on every 10/100 port, the switch provides maximum device
support and eases new technology deployments by eliminating the need for wall power to each IP phone or wireless LAN access point. Additionally,
delivering power via the Catalyst 3550-24 PWR switch eliminates the cost for additional electrical cabling that would otherwise be necessary in
wireless LAN and IP phone deployments. Maximum power availability for a converged voice and data network is attainable when a Catalyst 3550
Switch is combined with the Cisco Redundant Power System 675 (RPS 675) for seamless protection against internal power supply failures and an
uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system to safeguard against power outages.
The Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Intelligent Ethernet Switches include the following configurations:
•
Catalyst 3550-24 Switch—24 10/100 ports and two Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC)-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1 rack unit (RU)
•
Catalyst 3550-24 PWR Switch—24 10/100 ports with integrated inline power and two GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1 RU
•
Catalyst 3550-24-DC Switch—24 10/100 ports and two GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1 RU; DC-powered
•
Catalyst 3550-24-FX Switch—24 100FX ports and two GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1 RU
•
Catalyst 3550-48 Switch—48 10/100 ports and two GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1 RU
•
Catalyst 3550-12G Switch—10 GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports and two 10/100/1000BASE-T ports; 1.5 RU
•
Catalyst 3550-12T Switch—10 10/100/1000BASE-T ports and two GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports; 1.5 RU
The built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports accommodate a range of GBIC transceivers, including the Cisco GigaStack
®
GBIC, 1000BASE-T, 1000BASE-
SX, 1000BASE-LX/LH, 1000BASE-ZX and CWDM GBICs. The dual GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet implementation on the Fast Ethernet
configurations provides customers tremendous deployment flexibility—allowing customers to implement one type of stacking and uplink
configuration today, while preserving the option to migrate that configuration in the future. High levels of stack resiliency can also be implemented
by deploying dual redundant Gigabit Ethernet uplinks, a redundant GigaStack GBIC loopback cable, UplinkFast and CrossStack UplinkFast
technologies for high-speed uplink and stack interconnection failover, and Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) for uplink load balancing.
This Gigabit Ethernet flexibility makes the Catalyst 3550 switches an ideal LAN edge complement to the Cisco Catalyst 6500 family of Gigabit
Ethernet optimized core LAN switches.
Included with the Catalyst 3550-24, 3550-24 PWR, 3550-24-DC, 3550-24-FX and 3550-48 are the Standard Multilayer Software Image (SMI) or
the Enhanced Multilayer Software Image (EMI). The SMI feature set includes advanced QoS, rate-limiting, access control lists (ACLs), and basic
