Cisco LAN Switching Fundamentals

Catalyst 6000/6500 (Constellation, Constellation+, and Constellation II)

The Catalyst 6000, codename Constellation, was introduced in 1999 and represented a leap forward in switching technology. The Catalyst 6000 increased Ethernet switching bandwidth from 3.6 Gbps to 32 Gbps.

Approximately one year after the introduction of the Catalyst 6000, Cisco introduced the Catalyst 6500 series switches, codename Constellation+. The Catalyst 6500 introduced support for an eventual crossbar switch fabric while providing backward compatibility for modules designed for the 32-Gbps shared bus of the Catalyst 6000. The implementation of support for backward compatibility on the Catalyst 6500 is not much different than the method used on the Catalyst 5500. ...