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The Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) available even if its supervisor module is in standby mode or the device is down because of issues such as over-temperature alarms. Each CMP gets power from an auxiliary power bus in the device that remains operational so long as you have at least one power cable attached to the device.

All these options are available through the Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) because it contains its own RAM, bootflash, and front panel management Ethernet port.

The Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) provides the following functions:

• Communicates with the supervisor module and I/O modules even if Cisco NX-OS device is not responding on the mgmt0 port.

• Maintains connectivity when you reboot the supervisor module.

• Monitors the supervisor module console port.

• Reboots the local supervisor module or the entire system.

• Takes over the supervisor module console port.

• Collects failure logs and watches bootup diagnostic messages.

The new innovation provides the customers of Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switch with enormous capabilities. This decade witnessed the growth of video traffic, cloud computing is popularizing, to meet all these business demands in upcoming years Cisco Systems are ready with the Supervisor Engine 2T.

We all know the legacy and popularity of Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, a de facto industry standard switching platform at the heart of the world’s campus, data center, WAN, and Metro Ethernet networks.

The Catalyst 6500 led the industry’s port transition first from Fast Ethernet speeds to Gigabit Ethernet and then to 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

With introduction of Nexus Series of Switches I was bit afraid what Cisco is going to with the introduction of a new Supervisor Engine for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switch? The introduction of Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T on July 12^th 2011 eased my curiosity.

The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T has lot to offer, a state of art 2-terabit card that unlocks 80 gigabits per second per slot, new feature-rich 10-gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet line cards, and next-generation borderless services that provide customers with new mobility, security, network analysis and load balancing capabilities.

The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T  is compatible with all Cisco E-Series chassis models, offering minimal intervention to the existing Catalyst 6500 E-Series infrastructure. The new Catalyst 6500 Series is available now and the SUP2T has a list price of $38,000.

Some of the features of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T   are as follows

• Maintain investment protection through backward compatibility
• Deliver scalability and performance improvements such as distributed forwarding (dCEF) 720Mpps with the fourth-generation Policy Feature Card (PFC4)
• Support future 40Gbps interface and nonblocking 10Gbps modules
• Enable new applications and services with hardware accelerated VPLS, Layer 2 over mGRE for Network Virtualization
• Take advantage of integrated Connectivity Management Processor (CMP) for improved out-of-band management.

The Supervisor Engine 2T maintains backward compatibility with released line cards, chassis, and power supplies.