Cisco C9400-LC-48T Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Suffix Breakdown

• C9400: Catalyst 9400 modular core/aggregation switch platform
• LC: Line Card modular access module
• 48: Total 48 front-facing RJ45 physical ports
• T: Copper 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 data-only interface (no PoE; distinguishes from PoE-enabled LC-48P / LC-48U / LC-48H / LC-48HN)

Core Differentiators

1. vs PoE copper line cards (LC-48P/48U/48H/48HN): Pure data copper module with zero PoE power supply, lower power consumption and cost-optimized for non-powered endpoints.
2. vs fiber line cards (LC-24S/24XS/24XY/12QC): RJ45 copper interface for short-distance desktop access instead of long-range fiber uplink transport.
3. vs multi-gigabit LC-48UX: Only supports max 1Gbps, no 2.5G/5G/10G multi-rate capability, ideal for basic Gigabit desktop endpoints.

2. Hardware & Bandwidth Specifications

Port Performance Parameters

1. Port Count: 48 independent RJ45 ports, non-blocking full-duplex Gigabit Ethernet
2. Auto-negotiation speed: 10 Mbps / 100 Mbps / 1000 Mbps auto-sensing, full/half duplex support
3. Cable standard: Cat5e / Cat6 copper cabling, maximum 100-meter reach per port
4. Aggregate full-duplex non-blocking throughput: 48 Gbps bidirectional for all 48 ports simultaneouslyCisco
5. Jumbo frame support: Layer 2–Layer 4 jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes for large file transmission efficiency
6. No PoE Function: This line card provides zero IEEE 802.3af/at/bt inline power to connected endpoints; it cannot power APs, IP cameras or PoE IoT devicesCisco

Built-In Hardware Acceleration

1. IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 port-level hardware encryption to secure wired access traffic
2. IEEE 1588v2 / 802.1AS PTP hardware timing for audio/video broadcast and industrial network time synchronizationCisco
3. Wire-speed L2/L3/L4 ACL filtering, QoS policing, NAT and full IPv4/IPv6 routing forwarding
4. IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) to reduce power draw on idle unused portsCisco

Physical & Power Parameters

• Form Factor: Standard full-width Catalyst 9400 line card, compatible with all empty line card slots of C9404R / C9407R / C9410R chassis
• Typical full-load power consumption: 90W (much lower than PoE line cards)
• Rated MTBF: 1,240,850 hours under nominal standard operating environment
• Asset tracking: Front-mounted passive UHF RFID tag for enterprise network asset lifecycle managementCisco
• Cooling: Passive heatsink design, relies entirely on chassis side-to-side shared airflow; no independent onboard fan

Maximum Chassis Port Density (Fully Populated with LC-48T)

Supervisor Compatibility

3. Front Panel Layout & Status LEDs

1. 48 RJ45 port slots arranged in two horizontal rows (24 ports per row)
2. Per-port bi-color link/activity LED for each RJ45 port:
   • Solid Green: Valid link established, normal operation
   • Blinking Green: Bidirectional data transmission/reception
   • Solid Amber: Link down, cable fault or port error alarm
3. Global module status indicators at card edge:
   • STATUS LED: Green = online fully operational; Amber = booting/initialization; Red = critical hardware failure
   • LOCATE blue beacon LED: Remotely activated to identify the line card during rack maintenance
4. Dual mechanical ejector latches on both sides to support OIR hot insertion/removal without full chassis power shutdown

4. IOS XE Full Software Feature Set

Layer 2 Campus Switching Functions

• IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking (4096 maximum VLANs), PVLAN private VLAN segmentation for multi-tenant isolation
• Cross-line-card LACP/PAGP EtherChannel link aggregation for redundant uplink trunks to core
• RSTP/MSTP spanning tree suite with BPDU guard, root guard, loop guard and UplinkFast fast convergence
• DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), IP Source Guard and MAC address port security
• IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet for idle port power reduction

Layer 3 & SD-Access EVPN Fabric Capabilities

• Hardware-accelerated IPv4 / IPv6 unicast & multicast routing (static routes, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS)
• Up to 32-way ECMP equal-cost multi-path uplink load balancing
• Native VXLAN EVPN data plane forwarding for Cisco SD-Access enterprise fabric access aggregation
• Anycast gateway, LISP host mobility and wired user overlay traffic aggregation
• Hardware VRF-lite multi-tenancy segmentation, supporting up to 1000 independent isolated VRF instances

Security & QoS Hardware Features

• 8 independent hardware priority queues per port, WRR/DRR congestion scheduling, traffic policing, marking and shaping
• L2/L3/L4 hardware ACL policy enforcement, CoPP control plane policing to protect supervisor CPU resources
• TrustSec SGT tag classification and end-to-end policy propagation across the entire enterprise fabric
• Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) for hidden malware threat detection over wired user links
• IEEE 802.1X, MAB, WebAuth wired access authentication, AAA TACACS+/RADIUS/LDAP secure authentication

Automation, Programmability & Observability

• Model-driven programmability: NETCONF, RESTCONF, YANG standardized data models, REST API
• POAP zero-touch automated provisioning for mass campus wired access deployment
• Real-time streaming telemetry, IPFIX flow export, continuous port latency/buffer utilization monitoring
• GOLD non-disruptive online diagnostic tests for ongoing line card hardware health inspection
• Full native integration with Cisco DNA Center single-pane-of-glass lifecycle management, topology visualization and automated firmware orchestration

5. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Standard Enterprise Campus Wired Office Access
   48-port 1G copper connectivity for desktop PCs, laptops, printers and conference room endpoints without PoE requirements; cross-card EtherChannels provide redundant uplinks to Catalyst 9400 core chassis for SD-Access EVPN user segmentation.
2. Server Room & Rack Top Switch Downlink Aggregation
   Cost-effective Gigabit copper connections to file servers, storage management nodes and non-powered rack switches, isolated VRF segmentation for multi-department server workloads.
3. Low-Power Industrial Smart Building IoT Terminal Access
   Wired links to low-power IoT sensors, access control readers and building automation gateways that do not require PoE power; hardware QoS prioritizes low-latency industrial control traffic, TrustSec segmentation isolates IoT subnets from corporate user networks.
4. Education & Government Office Basic Wired Access
   High-density cost-saving copper access for student lab PCs, staff workstations and library endpoints, centralized security policy management via Cisco DNA Center.
5. Hybrid Cloud Office Endpoint Aggregation
   Gigabit wired access for corporate office staff, redundant uplinks to data center core switches for hybrid cloud and internet breakout connectivity.

6. Standard Package Contents of C9400-LC-48T SKU

Separately Mandatory & Optional Add-On Components

1. Mandatory Accessories
   • Cat5e / Cat6 RJ45 patch cords for end-device connections
   • Catalyst 9400 series chassis, supervisors, power supplies and fan tray (sold independently)
2. Optional Accessories
   • Lockable front door for chassis port security
3. Software Licenses
   • DNA Advantage perpetual license for full SD-Access, advanced MACsec security, streaming telemetry and end-to-end automation feature set
   • DNA Essentials base license for fundamental Layer 2/Layer 3 switching functionality

Short Commercial Catalog Summary for Quotation