Exclusive first look at new Cisco Catalyst 6500′s overhaul

The press briefing for Cisco’s latest edition of the Catalyst 6500 is just about to start, but Cisco already dropped some more details after yesterday’s maddeningly vague leak. From the release:

“With more than 500 patents, the Catalyst 6500 scales the network infrastructure scales the network infrastructure with next-generation innovations like IPv6 support, virtualization, 40G-readiness, Netflow, security, and mobility all with operational continuity. The new Catalyst 6500 builds on Cisco’s switching heritage in four key areas:

1.) New Supervisor Engine 2T (available on all E-series chassis) triples the performance of its previous edition; quadruples the scalability; Offers 200 new software features for security, mobility, application, voice/video, virtualization

2.) New 6900 Series Modules doubles the bandwidth to 80 GB per slot, ridding over-subscription of 10 GbE 8-port 10GbE cards; New performance standard with rich integrated services (e.g. line-rate MacSec encryption).

3.) New 6800 Modules drive a new level of price-performance across 10 GbE and GbE portfolio with rich integrated services and integrated Distributed Forwarding Capability.

4.) Next-gen Service Modules for mobility, security, application monitoring, network management

Michael Morisy is the editorial director for ITKnowledgeExchange. He can be followed on Twitter or you can reach him at Michael@ITKnowledgeExchange.com. Check out our complete Cisco Live! Coverage guide for more breaking news.