Cisco C9400-LC-48HX Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Suffix Breakdown

• C9400: Catalyst 9400 modular core/aggregation switch platform
• LC: Line Card modular copper access module
• 48: Total 48 front-facing identical RJ45 physical ports
• H: High-power UPOE+ (IEEE 802.3bt Type 4, max 90W per port)
• X: Full 10G-capable multigigabit mGig interface (supports up to 10GBASE-T; differentiates from 5G-only C9400-LC-48HN)Cisco

Core Differentiators

1. vs C9400-LC-48HN: LC-48HN caps at 5G mGig; LC-48HX extends to native 10GBASE-T for ultra-high-bandwidth end devices.
2. vs split-port C9400-LC-48UX: LC-48UX mixes 24×1G + 24×mGig and maxes at 60W UPOE; LC-48HX provides all 48 ports full 10G multigigabit + 90W UPOE+.
3. vs 1G-only C9400-LC-48H / C9400-LC-48H-UL: No multigigabit support on H series; HX delivers universal 10G mGig speeds.
4. vs PoE+ LC-48P / data-only LC-48T: Limited power or zero PoE output; HX combines full multi-tier PoE power and top-tier 10G bandwidth.
5. vs fiber uplink line cards (LC-24S/24XS/24XY/12QC): RJ45 copper access interface for end-user terminals instead of long-distance fiber core trunking.

2. Hardware & Bandwidth Specifications

Universal 10G Multigigabit Port Performance

1. Port Count: 48 identical independent RJ45 multigigabit ports, fully non-blocking full-duplex
2. Auto-negotiation supported speeds per port: 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps BASE-T
3. Cabling requirements: Cat5e supports up to 5G; Cat6/Cat6a required for stable 10G transmission, maximum 100-meter reach per port
4. Full Multi-Tier PoE Power Standards Compliance
   • IEEE 802.3af PoE: Up to 15.4W per port
   • IEEE 802.3at PoE+: Up to 30W per port
   • Cisco proprietary UPOE: Up to 60W per port (dual-pair power delivery)
   • IEEE 802.3bt Type 4 UPOE+: Up to 90W full high-power per port (flagship high-power capability)Cisco
5. Line Card Aggregate PoE Budget: Maximum 2160W total power draw when all 48 ports run full 90W UPOE+ simultaneously
6. Aggregate full-duplex non-blocking throughput: 480 Gbps bidirectional wire-speed capacity for all 48 ports
7. Jumbo frame support: Layer 2–Layer 4 jumbo frames up to 9216 bytes for 4K video, virtual desktop, cloud and large backup workloads

Built-In Hardware Acceleration Features

1. IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 port-level hardware encryption to secure wired user access traffic
2. IEEE 1588v2 / 802.1AS PTP hardware timing for broadcast video, unified voice and industrial network time synchronizationCisco
3. Wire-speed L2/L3/L4 ACL filtering, QoS policing, marking, shaping, NAT, and full IPv4/IPv6 routing forwarding
4. IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) to cut idle port power consumption
5. Intelligent PoE management suite: Real-time per-port power monitoring, priority power cut-off for critical devices, cable loss compensation, CDP/LLDP power negotiation, emergency power prioritization, and power overload fault alarm reporting

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: 350W (highest among all Catalyst 9400 copper line cards due to 10G PHY power draw)
• Rated MTBF: 695,740 hours under nominal standard operating environment
• Asset tracking: Front-mounted passive UHF RFID tag for enterprise network asset lifecycle management
• Cooling: Passive multi-heatsink design, fully reliant on chassis side-to-side shared airflow; no independent onboard fan
• Operating temperature range: -5°C to +45°C at altitude ≤1800m; -5°C to +40°C at altitude ≤3000m

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

Supervisor Compatibility

3. Front Panel Layout & Status LEDs

1. 48 universal 10G multigigabit RJ45 ports arranged in two horizontal rows (24 ports per row; all ports identical 10G-capable mGig interfaces)
2. Per-port bi-color link/activity LED for each RJ45 port:
   • Solid Green: Valid link established, normal data & PoE/UPOE+ operation
   • Blinking Green: Bidirectional data transmission/reception
   • Solid Amber: Link down, cable fault, powered device overload or PoE/UPOE+ power fault 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 chassis
• 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 segmentation
• 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 & real-time per-port PoE power consumption 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

5. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Ultra-Dense Wi-Fi 6 / Wi-Fi 6E Wireless Access Point Aggregation
   Universal 10G multigigabit ports deliver maximum bandwidth backhaul for top-tier multi-radio enterprise wireless APs and outdoor wireless gateways; full 90W IEEE 802.3bt UPOE+ power eliminates external power adapters for high-power wireless hardware, mixed deployment of VoIP phones and general office PCs on the same line card.
2. Premium 10G Unified Office & Virtual Desktop Access
   Native 10GBASE-T bandwidth supports 4K video editing workstations, cloud virtual desktop thin clients, high-speed lab servers and design studio equipment; backward-compatible 1G/2.5G/5G speeds for standard office endpoints, SD-Access VLAN segmentation strictly separates voice, data and video traffic.
3. Enterprise PTZ Thermal Camera & Large Format Digital Signage Deployment
   90W UPOE+ power supplies high-load pan-tilt-zoom surveillance cameras, thermal imaging sensors and oversized LED digital signage requiring over 60W power, eliminating dedicated wall power infrastructure for campus security and smart building visual systems.
4. Large-Scale Smart Building & Heavy-Duty Industrial IoT Backbone
   Powers high-load access control gateways, multi-sensor environmental controllers and lighting automation panels exceeding standard PoE+ limits; hardware QoS prioritizes low-latency industrial control traffic, TrustSec segmentation isolates vulnerable IoT subnets from corporate user networks.
5. Premium Education, Healthcare & Enterprise Headquarters Unified Wired Access
   Combined 10G high-bandwidth multigigabit connectivity and full high-power PoE for medical imaging terminals, classroom flagship wireless APs and multi-camera enterprise security systems; redundant EtherChannel uplinks to core Catalyst 9400 chassis for resilient internet and multi-cloud breakout connectivity.

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

Separately Mandatory & Optional Add-On Components

1. Mandatory Accessories
   • Cat6/Cat6a RJ45 patch cords for stable 10G transmission; Cat5e cables limited to max 5G speed
   • Catalyst 9400 series chassis, supervisors, power supplies and fan tray (sold independently)
2. Optional Accessories
   • Lockable front door for chassis port physical 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