Cisco Catalyst 4948 Ethernet Switch

The Cisco Catalyst^® 4948E and 4948E-F Ethernet Switches are the Cisco Catalyst 4900 Series data center switches built from the start to deliver best-in-class, full-featured server-access switching. The switches include identical features except that the Cisco Catalyst 4948E offers front-to-back cooling, and the Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F offers back-to-front cooling. Each switch offers forty-eight 10/100/1000-Gbps RJ45 downlink ports and four 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports. The switches are designed to simplify data center architecture and operations by offering service provider-grade hardware and software in a one-rack-unit (1RU) form factor optimized for full-featured top-of-rack (ToR) data center deployments (Figure 1).

The Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F build on the advanced technology of the Cisco Catalyst 4948 Switches, the most widely deployed ToR switch in the industry, with more than 10 million ports deployed worldwide. The Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F double the uplink bandwidth and offer true front-to-back and back-to-front airflow with no side or top venting. The airflow direction is controlled by the changing of fans. Optional front-to-back and back-to-front airflow management reduces data center operating costs by providing strict hot-aisle and cold-aisle isolation.

Hot-aisle and cold-aisle deployment remains the widely adopted best practice for data center cabinet layouts today. Networking switches and computing servers mounted in a single cabinet need to maintain the separation of the inlet cold air and the exhaust hot air for efficient use of cooling resources. The Cisco Catalyst 4948E and 4948E-F switches provide the option of front-to-back airflow (Cisco Catalyst 4948E) and back-to-front airflow (Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F) for ToR switch deployments.

Exceptional reliability and serviceability are delivered with optional internal AC and DC 1+1 hot-swappable power supplies and a hot-swappable fan tray with redundant fans (Figures 2 and 3).