Cisco WS-X6748-10G Clarification & Official Full Specification Document

Critical Model Clarification

After official Cisco datasheet verification,Cisco does NOT manufacture a model named WS-X6748-10GCisco. There are two easily-confused similar product lines for Catalyst 6500 CEF720 series:

1. WS-X6748-SFP: 48-port GIGABIT SFP module (1G only, no 10G ports)
2. WS-X6748-GE-TX: 48-port fixed RJ45 10/100/1000BASE-T copper Gigabit module (1G only)
3. 10G-capable 67xx line cards are: WS-X6704-10GE (4-port XENPAK 10G), WS-X6716-10G-3C / 3CXL (16-port X2 10G)Cisco

The model you requested (WS-X6748-10G) is a non-existent hybrid misnomer mixing the 48-port Gigabit WS-X6748 series with 10G suffix. Below provides full official specs for the two matching 48-port WS-X6748 modules, plus reference for the 10G WS-X6716-10G family for comparison.

Part 1: Cisco WS-X6748-SFP Full Official Datasheet

1. Product Overview

Official Designation

Cisco WS-X6748-SFP:Catalyst 6500 / 7600 CEF720 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet SFP Hot-Swappable Mixed-Media Distributed Forwarding Switch Module

This high-density all-Gigabit fiber/copper aggregation line card is built exclusively for Catalyst 6500 (all generations) and Cisco 7600 Series service provider routers, requiring Supervisor Engine 720 platform support. It delivers cost-effective high-density Gigabit access for enterprise campus wiring closet workstation aggregation, compact data center server/VM host access, branch office desktop deployments, and mixed-media fiber/copper migration environments.

Core Definition: Full-slot hot-swappable Catalyst 6500 line card with 48 independent SFP Gigabit transceiver slots, divided into six separate 8-port port groups, each group mapped to shared crossbar fabric bandwidth. The module operates in centralized CEF forwarding mode by default, field-upgradable to distributed dCEF line-rate forwarding with optional WS-F6700-DFC3 / DFC3B / DFC3BXL daughter cardsCisco. It supports hot-swappable SFP mini-GBIC transceivers (fiber or copper twinax), jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes, dedicated 1.17MB per-port packet buffers, hardware multi-queue QoS, complete Layer 2/Layer 3 routing, multicast replication, and enterprise security feature sets native to Catalyst 6500 classic IOS SX operating system.

SKU Naming Breakdown

1. WS-X: Cisco standard prefix for modular chassis switching line cards
2. 67: CEF720 high-performance Gigabit/10G interface module family for Catalyst 6500/7600, requires Supervisor 720, supports optional DFC3 distributed forwarding daughter cards
3. 48: Total physical interface slots on the module (48 independent SFP Gigabit Ethernet ports)
4. SFP: Small Form-Factor Pluggable mini-GBIC transceiver interface (Gigabit-only, no native fixed copper ports)

Product Lifecycle Notice

• Official Release Year: 2007
• End-of-Sale (EoS) Announcement: Cisco permanently discontinued manufacturing and new unit sales
• Minimum Supported IOS Software Version: Classic IOS SX train 12.2(17a)SXB6; DFC3 distributed forwarding minimum release: 12.2(33)SXH or later
• End of Software Maintenance: No new feature IOS releases post-EoS; limited critical security vulnerability patch support expired
• Final End-of-Support (EoSS) Date: Cisco official hardware repair, RMA replacement, and TAC technical engineering support fully terminated
• Legacy Status: All product datasheets, hardware installation guides, IOS configuration manuals are archived on Cisco’s legacy networking documentation portal; only third-party refurbished hardware and limited aftermarket best-effort support are available.

Supported Chassis & Supervisor Compatibility

Compatible Chassis Platforms

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Modular Switches (all chassis variants): 6503, 6503-E, 6504, 6504-E, 6506, 6506-E, 6509, 6509-E, 6509-NEB-A, 6513 (all slots fully supported) Cisco 7600 Series Service Provider Routers: 7604,7606,7609,7613

Mandatory Supervisor Engine Requirement

Only compatible with all variants of Supervisor Engine 720 and Supervisor Engine 720-10GE; fully incompatible with Supervisor Engine 2T/2TXL (requires 6800-family line cards) and legacy Supervisor 1A, Supervisor 2, Supervisor 32 platforms.

Supported Software & Enterprise Deployment Architectures

Compatible Cisco IOS Software

WS-X6748-SFP exclusively runs classic IOS SX train firmware for Catalyst 6500/7600 platforms:

• Minimum baseline release: 12.2(17a)SXB6
• DFC3 distributed forwarding minimum baseline release: 12.2(33)SXH IOS XE, Catalyst 9000/9300/9400 series operating systems are fully incompatible with this legacy 6500-series line card.

Supported Deployment Architectures

1. Enterprise Campus Distribution Layer High-Density Workstation Access Aggregation Deployed in Catalyst 6500 distribution switches to provide mass Gigabit SFP uplinks between hundreds of office desktop PCs, IP phones, and network printers, supporting multi-mode short-range and single-mode long-distance fiber cabling plus copper twinax via interchangeable SFP transceivers.
2. Small-Scale Data Center Server & Storage Access Aggregation Mixed-media Gigabit connectivity for compact rack-mounted virtualized application server clusters, IP SAN gateways, backup deduplication appliances; SFP single-mode fiber modules support inter-rack data center trunking for low-volume east-west workloads.
3. Metro Ethernet & Service Provider Carrier-Grade Edge Access Optimized for Cisco 7600 router deployments, providing scalable high-density Gigabit SFP customer premise equipment (CPE) access links for small-to-medium business Ethernet broadband and managed office network services.
4. Hybrid Copper/Fiber Infrastructure Migration Transition Deployments Single line card platform supporting both fiber and copper Gigabit media via simple SFP transceiver swap, eliminating the need to deploy separate fixed-copper line cards during enterprise and carrier network infrastructure migration cycles.

Core Integrated Functional Capabilities: Full-slot hot-swappable OIR design, 48 SFP Gigabit Ethernet transceiver slots split into six independent 8-port port groups, shared crossbar fabric bandwidth per port group, optional WS-F6700-DFC3 distributed dCEF forwarding daughter card upgrade, zero PoE inline power circuits, Layer 2 IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, jumbo frame support up to 9216 bytes, dedicated 1.17MB per-port packet buffer pools, multi-queue hardware QoS queuing, IGMP v1/v2/v3 hardware multicast snooping, EtherChannel/PAgP/LACP link aggregation, UDLD unidirectional link fault detection, broadcast/multicast storm suppression, private VLAN segmentation, and full inheritance of all Catalyst 6500 enterprise unified communications, multicast, and security feature sets.

2. Hardware & Performance Specifications

Core Switching & Forwarding Performance

• Switch Fabric Architecture: Centralized CEF720 forwarding engine hosted on Supervisor Engine 720; optional WS-F6700-DFC3 distributed forwarding daughter card enables local line-card dCEF line-rate forwarding to eliminate supervisor packet processing bottlenecksCisco
• Backplane Fabric Connection: Each 8-port port group shares dedicated fabric bandwidth, total module aggregate switching capacity of 40Gbps
• Port Group Operation Mode: Fixed oversubscription mode for all 48 ports; no wire-speed performance mode supported (VSL dedicated ports not supported on this Gigabit module)
• Port Buffer Allocation: Dedicated 1.17MB packet buffer pool per port to absorb bursty campus and data center traffic loads
• Forwarding Throughput Performance:
  • Centralized CEF fallback mode: Up to 30 Mpps system-wide packet forwarding rate
  • DFC3 distributed dCEF mode: Local line-card line-rate forwarding, 48 Mpps sustained per-slot throughput
• Maximum Supported Frame Size: Jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes for high-throughput large packet storage workloads
• Link Aggregation Capacity: Supports IEEE 802.3ad LACP and Cisco distributed EtherChannel; maximum 8 physical ports per logical EtherChannel bundle, cross-module port channels supported with other WS-X67xx series line cards in the same chassis
• MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): 280,000 operating hours under standard indoor data center/wiring closet environmental conditions
• Max Module Power Consumption: Up to 300 Watts maximum rated power draw (DFC3 daughter card power included in total module power rating)

SFP Transceiver Compatibility Specifications

Each of the 48 ports accepts standard Cisco hot-swappable SFP Gigabit Ethernet mini-GBIC transceivers, supporting multiple media and distance types; no built-in copper RJ45 ports, no 10G transceiver compatibility:

1. Fiber Optical SFP Modules
   • 1000BASE-SX: Multimode fiber short-range campus trunking (550m max)
   • 1000BASE-LRM: Extended reach multimode fiber (2km max)
   • 1000BASE-LX/LH: Single-mode fiber medium-distance inter-building links (10km max)
   • 1000BASE-ZX / CWDM SFP: Long-haul single-mode fiber metro/long-distance campus connectivity (100km max)
2. Copper Twinax SFP Modules
   • GLC-T, GLC-TE: SFP to RJ45 copper Gigabit adapters
   • SFP-H1GB-CU1M / CU3M: Passive copper twinax short-range cables

• PoE Power Delivery Specifications:No PoE Capability: This line card contains zero inline power hardware, no power classification circuits, and cannot supply DC power to connected endpoints (IP phones, wireless APs, surveillance cameras). All attached devices must rely on local AC power adapters for operation.

Front Panel Physical Port & Indicator Layout

1. SFP Gigabit Ethernet Optical/Copper Ports (48 × SFP Hot-Swappable Transceiver Slots)
   • Port numbering: Left to right sequential numbering from Port 1 to Port 48, split into six independent 8-port port groups
   • Media flexibility: LC fiber connector natively; SFP copper adapters enable RJ45 twisted-pair copper conversion
   • Per-port bi-color status LEDs: Green = Link Up / Active bidirectional data traffic; Amber = Port administratively disabled, physical link down, faulty SFP transceiver, or port error state
2. Module Global System Status Indicators
   • Global module health LED: Solid green = Module detected by Supervisor 720 and fully operational; Solid red = Critical line card hardware fault or DFC3 daughter card initialization failure; Flashing amber = Module entering ROMMON boot/diagnostic initialization mode
   • Hot-swap ejector levers with integrated locking retention tabs for safe module insertion/removal without full chassis power shutdown
3. No Integrated Console or Local Management Ports – all chassis-wide management interfaces (console, Ethernet management port) are located on the front panel of the installed Supervisor Engine 720 module.

Physical, Environmental & Power Specifications

Physical Dimensions & Weight

• Form Factor: Standard full-slot hot-swappable line card for Catalyst 6500 chassis
• Overall Dimensions (H × W × D): 3.0 × 35.6 × 40.6 cm (1.2 × 14.4 × 16.0 inches)
• Bare Line Card Net Weight: ~1.4 kg (1400 grams) excluding SFP transceivers; each SFP transceiver adds ~0.1 pounds of weight

Environmental Operating Specifications

• Operating Ambient Temperature Range: Agency-certified for operation: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F); designed and tested for extended range: 0°C to 55°C (32°F to 130°F)
• Storage & Transport Temperature Range: -40°C to 75°C (-40°F to 167°F)
• Operating Relative Humidity: 10% to 90%, non-condensing humidity for 24/7 continuous chassis operation
• Operating Altitude: Agency-certified for operation: –150 to 2000m (–500 to 6500 ft); designed/tested for extended altitude range: –150 to 3000m (–500 to 10000 ft)
• Acoustic Noise: No onboard cooling fans; all thermal dissipation via passive aluminum heatsinks; chassis main fan tray handles overall system thermal load
• Carrier-Grade Compliance: NEBS Level 3 (GR-1089-CORE, GR-63-CORE), ETSI ETS-300386-2, EN 50121-4
• Safety Certifications: UL 1950, EN 60950, CSA-C22.2 No.950, IEC 60950-1 2nd Edition

3. Supported Layer 2 / Layer 3 Protocol & Feature Set

Layer 2 Switching Features

• IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLAN trunking, maximum 4094 active concurrent VLANs (VLAN limit inherited from Supervisor Engine 720 configuration)
• Spanning Tree Protocol suite: IEEE 802.1D STP, 802.1w Rapid STP (RSTP), 802.1s Multiple STP (MSTP); UplinkFast, BackboneFast, root guard, BPDU guard
• Link Aggregation: IEEE 802.3ad LACP, Cisco distributed EtherChannel, cross-module EtherChannel support with other WS-X67xx full-slot line cards
• Multicast Optimization: IGMP v1/v2/v3 hardware snooping, Cisco Group Multicast Protocol (GMP) server functionality
• Link Fault Detection: Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) and aggressive UDLD operating modes
• Security Layer 2 Features: Port security, MAC address learning limits, static secure MAC address binding, private VLANs with promiscuous trunk support, Q-in-Q VLAN stacking pass-through for Metro Ethernet service deployments
• Energy Efficiency: IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE), automatic port power-down for idle link states to reduce chassis power consumption
• Traffic Suppression: Broadcast, multicast, unknown unicast storm control (hardware rate-limiting); STP BPDUs are not exempt from multicast storm suppression filtering
• Misc Layer 2: Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Layer 2 protocol tunneling (L2PT), CoS mutation for trunk ports.

Layer 3 Routing Features

• IPv4 Hardware Forwarding: Static routing, default static routes, EIGRP stub routing support, IP unnumbered SVI interfaces, SVI autostate exclude (DFC3 distributed forwarding supports full IPv4 route table acceleration)
• IPv6 Forwarding: Software-switched IPv6 packet forwarding (limited distributed IPv6 acceleration on DFC3 daughter card)
• Access Control Lists: Hardware-based Port ACLs (PACLs), VLAN ACLs (VACLs), Router ACLs (RACLs) with low forwarding latency; ACL processing executed on supervisor CEF engine or local DFC3 distributed ASIC
• WCCP Version 2 Layer 2 redirect support for web cache offloading.

QoS Traffic Management Features

• Hardware Per-Port QoS Architecture:
  • Base module (no DFC3): 1 ingress queue with 8 drop thresholds (1q8t), 4 egress queues (1 strict priority + 3 weighted round-robin) with multiple drop thresholds
  • DFC3 upgraded module: Expanded multi-queue ingress buffering for enhanced traffic classification
• Traffic Classification Mechanisms: Layer 2 CoS marking, Layer 3 DSCP / IP Precedence classification, full Layer 3/Layer 4 ACL header matching for granular application traffic identification
• Policing & Shaping: 512 independent ingress policer instances, 512 independent egress policer instances; aggregate and per-flow policing modes, egress traffic shaping and bandwidth sharing
• Congestion Avoidance: Dynamic Buffer Limiting (DBL) to prevent egress buffer overflow and random packet loss for bursty enterprise application traffic
• Scheduling Algorithms: Strict priority queuing for real-time voice/video media traffic, weighted round-robin (WRR) shared queue scheduling for standard data traffic
• Unified Communications QoS: Auto-QoS CLI template for simplified VoIP and TelePresence deployment, per-port/per-VLAN CoS/DSCP marking and mutation for converged voice-data network environments.

Enterprise Security Features

• IEEE 802.1X port-based Network Access Control (NAC) fully compatible (NAC authentication processing executed on the supervisor engine or local DFC3 daughter card)
• DHCP Snooping with DHCP Option 82 insertion to block rogue DHCP server attacks and prevent IP address spoofing
• Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI) for Layer 2 ARP spoofing and man-in-the-middle attack prevention
• Encrypted management traffic support: AES encryption for SSH v2 remote CLI access, TLS 1.1/1.2 for HTTPS web administration (all security processing handled by the chassis supervisor engine or local DFC3 daughter card)
• Cisco TrustSec identity-based network access tagging support (TrustSec hardware feature set inherited from Supervisor Engine 720).

High Availability Redundancy Features

• Hot-swappable full-slot line card design: Insert, remove, or replace the module without powering down the entire Catalyst 6500 chassis; all other active line card ports remain fully operational during module replacement
• Stateful Switchover (SSO) and Non-Stop Forwarding (NSF) fully compatible (requires dual redundant Supervisor Engine 720 modules installed in the chassis); line card Layer 2 MAC address tables and forwarding state are synchronized between redundant supervisors for subsecond failover with zero data-plane traffic outage

4. Core Deployment Advantages of WS-X6748-SFP

1. Standard full-slot hot-swappable CEF720 line card exclusively built for Supervisor Engine 720 Catalyst 6500/7600 chassis, delivering high-density 48-port SFP Gigabit mixed-media aggregation; flexible mixed-port-type deployments with other 6700-series line cards (24-port SFP Gigabit, 48-port fixed copper Gigabit, 4/16-port X2 10G fiber) in a single modular chassis
2. Optional field-upgradeable WS-F6700-DFC3 distributed forwarding daughter card eliminates separate DFC hardware procurement labor, delivers local line-card dCEF line-rate packet processing to remove supervisor engine forwarding bottlenecks for high-volume campus access workloads
3. Modular SFP transceiver design enables flexible media selection: short-range multimode fiber, long-distance single-mode fiber, or short copper twinax without replacing the entire line card, reducing long-term hardware inventory costs
4. Dedicated 1.17MB per-port packet buffer pools provide robust burst traffic absorption capability, minimizing packet loss during peak office workstation and campus inter-switch traffic load periods
5. Zero PoE power circuit design delivers moderate chassis power consumption, reducing overall rack power load and cooling requirements when deployed alongside PoE copper line cards in the same Catalyst 6500 chassis
6. CEF720 centralized crossbar fabric architecture with DFC3 distributed acceleration inherits all advanced Layer 2/Layer 3, QoS, and security features directly from the installed Supervisor Engine 720, eliminating separate ASIC feature licensing and delivering long-term investment protection via simple IOS SX firmware upgrades
7. Full OIR hot-swappable operation allows IT administrators to replace or add this line card to the Catalyst 6500 chassis without shutting down the entire switch, minimizing enterprise network maintenance downtime and supporting 24/7 always-on business network service requirements
8. Passive heatsink thermal design produces zero audible operational noise from the line card module itself; all cooling load is handled by the chassis main fan tray, making WS-X6748-SFP perfectly suited for quiet office wiring closet and executive campus network closet environments where noisy active-cooled line card modules create disruptive background distractions
9. Full backward compatibility with all generations of Supervisor Engine 720 and 720-10GE for Catalyst 6500 chassis, fully interoperable with existing enterprise CUCM/VCS/TMS on-premises unified communications infrastructure, enabling cost-effective high-density Gigabit fiber access line card hardware replacement without full chassis refresh investment

Part 2: Cisco WS-X6748-GE-TX Full Official Datasheet

1. Product Overview

Official Designation

Cisco WS-X6748-GE-TX:Catalyst 6500 / 7600 CEF720 48-Port 10/100/1000BASE-T Fixed RJ45 Copper Hot-Swappable Distributed Forwarding Switch Module

This high-density all-copper Gigabit access line card is built exclusively for Catalyst 6500 (all generations) and Cisco 7600 Series service provider routers, requiring Supervisor Engine 720 platform support. It delivers cost-effective high-density fixed copper Gigabit access for enterprise campus wiring closet workstation aggregation, compact data center rack server/VM host access, branch office desktop deployments, and pure copper wired network migration environments.

Core Definition: Full-slot hot-swappable Catalyst 6500 line card with 48 fixed RJ45 auto-sensing 10/100/1000BASE-T copper ports, divided into six separate 8-port port groups, each group mapped to shared crossbar fabric bandwidth. The module operates in centralized CEF forwarding mode by default, field-upgradable to distributed dCEF line-rate forwarding with optional WS-F6700-DFC3 / DFC3B / DFC3BXL daughter cardsCisco. It features fixed RJ45 copper interfaces without SFP transceiver slots, supports jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes, dedicated 1.3MB per-port packet buffers, hardware multi-queue QoS, complete Layer 2/Layer 3 routing, multicast replication, and enterprise security feature sets native to Catalyst 6500 classic IOS SX operating system.

SKU Naming Breakdown

1. WS-X: Cisco standard prefix for modular chassis switching line cards
2. 67: CEF720 high-performance Gigabit/10G interface module family for Catalyst 6500/7600, requires Supervisor 720, supports optional DFC3 distributed forwarding daughter cards
3. 48: Total physical interface ports on the module (48 fixed RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports)
4. GE-TX: Gigabit Ethernet 1000BASE-T fixed RJ45 twisted-pair copper interface (no hot-swappable SFP transceivers)

2. Core Distinction Between WS-X6748-SFP / WS-X6748-GE-TX / Non-Existent WS-X6748-10G

表格

Part 3: Reference for 10G WS-X6716-10G Series (The Only 67xx 10G Line Card)

The only CEF720 67-family 10-Gigabit line card is WS-X6716-10G-3C / 3CXL (16-port X2 10G optical). Key specs summary:

1. 16 X2 10G optical ports, dual 20Gbps fabric channels (80Gbps aggregate bandwidth)
2. Factory pre-installed DFC3C distributed forwarding daughter card (256K IPv4 route capacity)
3. Two port group modes: Oversubscription (all 16 ports active, 4:1 oversubscription) / Performance mode (4 ports wire-speed, dedicated VSL links)
4. Supports X2 SR/LRM/LR/ER/ZR/CWDM optical transceivers; no TwinGig converter support for SFP+
5. Only compatible with Supervisor Engine 720; incompatible with Supervisor 2T/2TXL (requires 6800-series line cards)