The digital transformation: Converged wired and wireless access and aggregation

The promise of digital for your business is all about innovating more quickly while reducing risk, cost, and complexity. It will be your network that forms the foundation of your business’s transformation.

But supporting your digital organization will require your network to move beyond just connectivity to be a platform for insights, automation, and security.

This is the power of the Cisco® Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA).

Cisco DNA is a monumental shift on how to design and build networks. The Cisco Catalyst^® 3850 Series, as part of the Cisco DNA portfolio of next-generation enterprise-class stackable Ethernet and Multigigabit Ethernet access and aggregation layer switches, securely enables time-saving virtualization, greater automation, and valuable analytics data that directly address your evolving business needs, including less cost to install and operate.

The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series provides capabilities that ideally suited to support the convergence of wired and wireless access. The new Cisco Unified Access Data^™ Plane (UADP) Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) powers the switch and enables uniform wired-wireless policy enforcement, application visibility, flexibility, and application optimization. This convergence is built on the resilience of the new and improved Cisco StackWise^®-480 technology.

The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches support full IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), Cisco Universal Power Over Ethernet (Cisco UPOE^®), modular and field-replaceable network modules, RJ-45 and fiber-based downlink interfaces, and redundant fans and power supplies.

Product Overview

●   Integrated wireless controller capability with:

◦     Up to 40G of wireless capacity per switch (48-port RJ45 models)

◦     Support for up to 100 access points and 2000 wireless clients on each switching entity (switch or stack)

●   24 and 48 10/100/1000Mbps data PoE+ and Cisco UPOE models with Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE)

●   24 and 48 100Mbps/1/2.5/5/10 Gbps Cisco UPOE models with Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE)

●   12- and 24-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet SFP-based models

●   12- and 24-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+-based models

●   48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ model with 4 fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ uplinks

●   Cisco StackWise-480 technology provides scalability and resiliency with 480 Gbps of stack throughput^[1]

●   Cisco StackPower^® technology provides power stacking among stack members for power redundancy¹

●   Five optional uplink modules^[2] with 4 x Gigabit Ethernet, 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 4 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet^[3], 8 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet4, or 2 x 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+^[4] ports

●   Dual redundant, modular power supplies and three modular fans providing redundancy

●   Full IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) with 30W power on all copper ports in 1 Rack Unit (RU) form factor

●   Cisco UPOE with 60W power per port in 1 Rack Unit (RU) form factor

●   IEEE 802.3bz (2.5/5 G/s BASE-T) to go beyond 1 Gb/s with existing Cat5e and Cat6

●   IEEE 802.1ba AV Bridging (AVB) built-in to provide better AV experience for including improved time synchronization and QoS

●   Software support for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast routing, modular Quality of Service (QoS), Flexible NetFlow (FNF), and enhanced security features

●   Single universal Cisco IOS^® Software image across all license levels, providing an easy upgrade path for software features

●   Cisco DNA services delivered through Cisco ONE^™ Software, providing simplified, high-value solutions with license portability and flexibility

●   Support for AES-256 with the powerful MACSEC 256-bit for SFP+ and Multigigabit models and 128-bit encryption algorithm available on all models

●   Enhanced Limited Lifetime Warranty (E-LLW) with Next Business Day (NBD) advance hardware replacement and 90-day access to Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support

Switch Models and Configurations

All switches ship with one of the five power supplies (350WAC, 715WAC, 750WAC, 1100WAC, or 440WDC)^[5]. Figures 1 through 4 show the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches.

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches with 12 and 24 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ ports

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches with 12 and 24 1 Gigabit Ethernet SFP ports

Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches with 10 Gigabit Ethernet 48 ports

Table 1 shows the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series configurations.

Table 1.           Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series configurations

Network modules

The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches support five optional network modules for uplink ports. The default switch configuration does not include the network module. At the time of switch purchase the customer has the flexibility to choose from the network modules described in Table 2.

Figure 5 shows the following network modules:

●   4 x Gigabit Ethernet with Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) receptacles

●   2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet with SFP+ or 4 x Gigabit Ethernet with SFP receptacles

●   4 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet with SFP+ receptacles (supported only on the 48-port Gigabit Ethernet models or on the 12-port or higher 10 Gigabit Ethernet models)

Network modules with four Gigabit Ethernet, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+, or four 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ interfaces

Figure 6 shows the following network modules:

●   8 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet with Small Form-Factor Pluggable+ (SFP+) receptacles

●   2 x 40 Gigabit Ethernet with Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable+ (QSFP+) receptacles

Network modules with two 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ or eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ interfaces

The C3850-NM-4-10G module is supported only on the 48-port Gigabit Ethernet models or on the 12-port or higher 10 Gigabit Ethernet models. The C3850-NM-8x10G and C3850-NM-2x40G modules are supported on the 24-port and 48-port multigigabit switches and also on the 24-port 10G SFP+ switch model. The C3850-NM-4-1G and C3850-NM-2-10G modules are not supported on the 12-port and 24-port SFP+ models.

Table 2.             Network module compatibility matrix

An SFP+ receptacle supports both 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet modules, allowing customers to use their investment in Gigabit Ethernet SFP modules and upgrade to 10 Gigabit Ethernet when business demands change without having to do a comprehensive upgrade of the access switch. In contrast, SFP receptacles can be used only as Gigabit Ethernet ports, as shown in the examples in Table 3.