- Centralized 280-Gbps switching capacity with 225 millions of packets per second (mpps) of throughput
- IPv6 support in hardware, providing linerate forwarding for IPv6 packets
- Ability to mix and match 6-Gbps classic and 24-Gbps E-Series line cards with no performance degradation
- Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks (X2 optics)
- Cisco TwinGig Converter Modules that enable flexibility for up to four Gigabit Ethernet uplinks in the X2 optic slots
- Low latency
- Dynamic hardware forwarding table allocations for ease of IPv4-to-IPv6 migration
- Quality of service (QoS) services hardware entries: 16,000 per direction
- Advanced QoS support with up to eight queues per port, dynamic queue sizing, and hierarchical policing to provide flexibility and control
The Supervisor Engine 6L-E delivers 24 Gbps per slot of switching capacity when deployed with the E-Series line cards in a Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-series chassis. You can mix and match classic line cards and E-Series line cards within a Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-series chassis with no performance degradation. When you deploy the Cisco Catalyst Supervisor Engine 6L-E with classic line cards, all of the features except the 24-Gbps per-slot switching capacity are inherited.
The Cisco Catalyst Supervisor Engine 6L-E also provides flexibility and an easy migration path to 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks with dual-purpose X2 slots that can accommodate wire-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet optics or Cisco TwinGig Converter Modules, enabling Gigabit Ethernet SFP optics.
The Cisco TwinGig converter module, which ships standard with the Supervisor Engine 6L-E, converts a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 interface into two Gigabit Ethernet port slots that can be populated with appropriate SFP optics, providing a total of 4 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks if used in both X2 interface slots. With the flexibility offered by the Cisco TwinGig converter module, you can initially use the gigabit uplinks, and then, as your business demands change, you can simply remove the Cisco TwinGig converter module and insert 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 optics to provide full line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. The ability to support both Gigabit Ethernet uplinks and 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks on a single supervisor engine further demonstrates the flexibility and the investment protection of the Cisco Catalyst 4500 series.
Power consumption on the Supervisor Engine 6L-E is optimized, and when combined with Cisco Catalyst 4500 line cards, the system supports Power over Ethernet (PoE), Cisco enhanced PoE, and ready for PoEP with support for 30W/port.
The capabilities and investment protection provided by the Supervisor Engine 6L-E facilitate not only adequate scalability for today's network access requirements but also future-proofing by providing significant software functionalities for future deployments.