Comparing the Architectures

Table 3-7 provides a brief comparison of the major features of each of the architectures presented in this chapter.

Table 3-7. Comparison of the Catalyst Architectures
Catalyst PlatformForm FactorSwitch FabricFabric Bandwidth
5000ModularShared bus1.2 Gbps
5500ModularCrossbar3.6 Gbps
6000ModularShared bus32 Gbps
6500 with SFMModularCrossbar256 Gbps
6500 with Supervisor 720ModularCrossbar360 Gbps (720 full duplex)
4500ModularCentralized64 Gbps
3750Fixed-StackableDual Ring32 Gbps

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