Q&A

New Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Redundant Chassis

Q. What new chassis are being introduced?

A. Two new redundant chassis are being introduced: WS-C4507R+E, a new 7-slot redundant chassis, and WS-
C4510R+E, a 10-slot redundant chassis. WS-C4507R+E continues to support five line card slots and two
supervisor slots, like the WS-C4507R-E chassis. Similarly, the WS-C4510R+E chassis continues to support
eight line card slots and two supervisor slots, like the WS-C4510R-E chassis.

Q. How are they different from the redundant chassis that are currently being offered?
A. The redundant chassis currently being offered currently—WS-C4507R-E and WS-C4510R-E—support 24 Gbps
bandwidth per line card slot, whereas the new WS-C4507R+E and WS-C4510R+E chassis support 48 Gbps
bandwidth per line card slot.

Q. Do the nonredundant chassis support 48 Gbps per slot?

A. Yes, the nonredundant chassis being offered today—WS-C4503-E and WS-C4506-E—are already capable of
supporting 48 Gbps bandwidth per line card slot.

Q. Can any of the currently offered supervisors drive 48 Gbps to the line card slots?
A. Yes, the Supervisor Engine 7-E supports 48 Gbps for all line card slots in the following chassis: WS-C4503-E,
WS-C4506-E, WS-C4507R+E, WS-C4510R+E.

Q. Why are the new chassis being introduced?

A. The fabric redundancy modules present on the passive backplane of the redundant chassis—WS-C4507R-E
and WS-C4510R-E—support a maximum of 24 Gbps per line card slot, whereas the nonredundant chassis
backplane is already characterized for 48 Gbps bandwidth per line card slot. The new redundant chassis—WS-
C4507R+E and WS-C4510R+E—are being introduced to remove this discrepancy. The WS-C4507R+E and
WS-C4510R+E chassis together with WS-C4503-E and WS-C4506-E chassis provide investment protection for
all deployments by future proofing with 48 Gbps per line card slot support.

Q. How is investment protection maintained for customers who have already deployed the WS-C4507R-E or
WS-C4510R-E chassis?
A. Investment protection is provided to the customers who have already deployed WS-C4507R-E and WS-
C4510R-E chassis by the following twofold approach:

● All future supervisors will continue to support WS-C4507R-E and WS-C4510R-E chassis with a maximum
bandwidth of 24 Gbps per line card slot.
● Future easy upgrade options will be provided when a next-generation supervisor is introduced that will
support 48 Gbps per line card slot.
Q. Will the WS-C4507R-E and WS-C4510R-E chassis be discontinued?
A. No, the WS-C4507R-E and WS-C4510R-E chassis will not be discontinued in order to enable customers who
® ®
have standardized on these chassis to continue deploying Cisco Catalyst 4500E systems while they start
qualifying the new WS-C4507R+E and WS-C4510R+E chassis. Cisco recommends that all customers to
transition to the new WS-C4507R+E and WS-C4510R+E chassis as soon as possible so that they can future
proof their deployments to support 48 Gbps per line card slot.

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 Q&A

Q. Will a new Cisco IOS® Software image be required to support the WS-C4507R+E and WS-C4510R+E
chassis?
A. Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(53)SG4 or beyond is required to support the WS-C4507R+E and WS-
C4510R+E chassis.

Q. Are any new WS-C4507R+E chassis-based bundles being introduced?

A. There are two currently orderable WS-C4507R-E and Sup6L-E based bundles: WS-C4507RES6L-96V+ and
BN-CF2-SBA-K9. Corresponding WS-C4507R+E-based bundles are being introduced. The corresponding
SKUs for the new bundles are WS-C4507RES6L+96V+ and BN-CF2-SBA+K9.

Q. Will the WS-C4507R-E chassis-based bundles be discontinued?

A. No, WS-C4507RES6L-96V+ and BN-CF2-SBA-K9 bundles will not be discontinued in order to enable customers
who have standardized on these bundles to continue deploying Cisco Catalyst 4500E systems while they start
qualifying the new bundles. Cisco recommends that all customers to transition to the new WS-
C4507RES6L+96V+ and BN-CF2-SBA+K9 bundles as soon as possible so that they can future proof their
deployments to support 48 Gbps per line card slot.

Q. Are any new WS-C4510R+E chassis-based bundles being introduced?

A. No, no new WS-C4510R+E based bundles are being introduced currently.

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