Cisco C9606R-E Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Suffix Breakdown

• C9600: Catalyst 9600 high-performance modular core switch platform
• 6: Total 6 horizontal internal chassis slots
• R: Redundant HA chassis architecture (dual supervisor, N+1/N+N power/fan redundancy)
• -E: Enhanced factory pre-built full HA enterprise bundle (complete redundant power, Gen2 high-capacity supervisors, optimized cooling, full enterprise hardware pre-installed)

Core Differentiators

1. vs bare empty C9606R: C9606R is only an empty chassis with basic fan tray; C9606R-E ships fully preloaded with dual Gen2 supervisors and full redundant power for maximum uptime deployments.
2. vs standard C9606R-A pre-assembled bundle: C9606R-A includes minimum 2 PSUs for basic N+1 redundancy; C9606R-E comes with full 4 PSU N+N redundant power, enhanced cooling array, and high-capacity SSD-equipped C9600X-SUP-2 supervisors for heavy traffic core workloads.
3. vs compact C9604R-E: C9604R-E only has 2 line card expansion slots; C9606R-E provides 4 line card slots for larger port scalability for medium/large campus backbone networks.
4. vs flagship C9610R-E: C9610R-E offers 8 line card slots for ultra-scale global campus/data center deployments; C9606R-E balances rack space, cost, and full HA redundancy for mainstream enterprise core use cases.
5. vs Catalyst 9400 series distribution switches: Catalyst 9400 targets layer 3 distribution aggregation; C9600 series including C9606R-E delivers Silicon One high-speed forwarding, native 100G/400G support, and massively expanded L2/L3 forwarding tables for campus/data center core backbone transportCisco.

2. Chassis Slot Architecture & Hardware Capacity

Fixed 6 Horizontal Slot Layout (Top to Bottom 1–6)

• Slots 1 & 2: Hot-swappable line card slots
• Slots 3 & 4: Dual factory pre-installed C9600X-SUP-2 Gen2 supervisor slots (1+1 HA active/standby)
• Slots 5 & 6: Hot-swappable line card slots
  Total expandable line card capacity: 4 independent slots for fiber/copper uplink/access modules

Backplane Bandwidth & Forwarding Performance

• Maximum non-blocking wired switching capacity: 25.6 Tbps (enabled via factory-installed C9600X-SUP-2 Silicon One supervisors)Cisco
• Per-slot full-duplex wire-speed bandwidth: 6.4 Tbps
• Inter-supervisor high-speed synchronization interconnect: 400 Gbps for low-latency SSO/NSF state replication
• Maximum packet forwarding throughput: 8 Bpps with C9600X-SUP-2 Gen2 supervisors; limited to 3 Bpps with Gen1 C9600-SUP-1

Maximum Supported Port Density (4 fully populated line card slots)

1. High-speed fiber interface options
   • 400G QSFP-DD: Up to 8 total ports
   • 100G/40G QSFP28: Up to 128 total ports
   • 50G/25G SFP56/SFP28: Up to 224 total ports
   • 10G/1G SFP+/SFP: Up to 384 ports via QSFP breakout adapters
2. Multigigabit copper RJ45 PoE++
   • Up to 192 × 10G/5G/2.5G/1G mGig high-power PoE++ ports with compatible Catalyst 9600 copper line cards

Standard Factory Pre-Installed Enhanced Hardware for C9606R-E Bundle

1. Dual redundant C9600X-SUP-2 Gen2 Silicon One supervisors with large onboard SSD storage for telemetry, logging, and containerized applications
2. N+1 enhanced capacity hot-swappable fan tray with 9 high-speed variable-speed fans for heavy load thermal management
3. Full set of 4 × high-efficiency Platinum/Titanium AC power supplies for complete N+N power redundancy (no single power failure risk)

Supported Power Supply Modules

• 2000W / 3000W high-efficiency Platinum AC PSUs (factory standard for C9606R-E)
• Optional 2000W DC / HVDC power supply variants for telco and colocation data center environments
• Input voltage range: AC 90–264V 47–63Hz; DC -40V ~ -72V
• All PSUs meet ≥94% high-efficiency energy-saving standards to reduce power consumption and heat generation

Enhanced Cooling System

• Hot-swappable N+1 redundant fan tray with side-to-side horizontal airflow (air intake left side, exhaust right side)ManualsLib
• Full front-panel service access for fan tray replacement; optional rear tray access for optimized cable routing
• Dynamic intelligent fan speed auto-adjustment based on internal chassis temperature to minimize acoustic noise during low-traffic off-peak hours
• Enhanced thermal design optimized for full 4-slot line card loaded high-temperature rack deployments

3. Physical & Environmental Specifications

Physical Dimensions & Weight

• Form factor: Standard 8 RU rack-mountable chassis
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 13.95 × 17.4 × 16.1 inches (35.43 × 44.20 × 40.89 cm)Cisco
• Pre-assembled full bundle weight (C9606R-E with dual SUP-2, 4 AC PSUs, enhanced fan tray): 78.5 lb (35.61 kg)

Operating Environmental Compliance

• Normal operating temperature: -5°C ~ +40°C up to 3000m altitude; short-term burst -5°C ~ +50°C up to 1800m altitudeManualsLib
• Storage/transport temperature: -40°C ~ +75°C
• Humidity tolerance: 10%–95% relative humidity non-condensing
• Global regulatory certifications: UL 60950-1, IEC 60950-1, EN 60950-1, CSA-C22.2, GB 4943, NEBS seismic compliance, RoHS, EMC Class A for enterprise data center and wiring closet deployment

Hardware Asset & Security Hardware

• Embedded passive UHF RFID tags integrated on chassis, dual supervisors, all 4 PSUs, and fan tray for centralized enterprise asset lifecycle trackingCisco
• ACT2 secure authentication chip on all hot-swappable modules to detect unauthorized third-party non-Cisco hardware insertion and block uncertified modules

4. Native Enterprise-Grade High Availability (HA) Capabilities

1. Dual 1+1 pre-installed Gen2 supervisor redundancy
   • SSO (Stateful Switchover), NSF (Non-Stop Forwarding) to eliminate packet loss during supervisor failover
   • Full ISSU (In-Service Software Upgrade) for IOS XE firmware version upgrades without traffic interruption
2. Universal OIR (Online Insertion and Removal) support
   All supervisors, line cards, power supplies, and fan trays support hot plug/unplug without full chassis power shutdown
3. Full N+N 4 PSU power redundancy
   Four factory pre-installed power supplies enable complete power fault tolerance, supporting simultaneous failure of multiple PSUs without chassis downtime
4. N+1 redundant fan tray internal fan array; single or multiple fan faults do not compromise chassis cooling performance under full load
5. StackWise Virtual support: Two C9606R-E enhanced chassis can be paired to form a single logical virtual core switch for multi-chassis zero-downtime fabric HA

5. IOS XE Full Software & Security Feature Suite

Campus & SD-Access Fabric Core Functions

• Hardware-accelerated native VXLAN EVPN forwarding for Cisco SD-Access intent-based wired/wireless enterprise fabric
• Massive-scale L2/L3 forwarding table capacity (128,000 MAC entries, 2,000,000 IPv4 LPM routes) optimized for multi-building large campus deployments3p.cisco.c...
• Up to 32-way ECMP equal-cost multi-path uplink load balancing
• Complete routing protocol stack: BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS
• PVLAN private VLAN segmentation, cross-card LACP/PAGP EtherChannel, MSTP/RSTP spanning tree toolkit

Hardware-Accelerated Security Features

• IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 port-level encryption for all fiber/copper uplink traffic
• TrustSec SGT tag end-to-end policy segmentation, Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) for hidden malware threat detection
• Wire-speed hardware ACL filtering, CoPP control plane policing to protect supervisor CPU resources
• DHCP Snooping, DAI, IP Source Guard, IEEE 802.1X, MAB, WebAuth wired access authentication
• AAA authentication support via TACACS+/RADIUS/LDAP

QoS & Precision Timing

• 8 independent hardware priority queues per port, WRR/DRR congestion scheduling, per-port policing/marking/shaping
• IEEE 1588v2 PTP hardware timing for synchronized broadcast video, unified voice, and industrial control networks

Automation, Programmability & Observability

• Model-driven open programmability: NETCONF, RESTCONF, YANG data models, gNMI, on-box Python scripting
• High-volume real-time streaming telemetry, IPFIX flexible netflow export, continuous port latency and buffer utilization monitoring
• GOLD non-disruptive online diagnostic tests for real-time chassis and module health inspection
• Native seamless integration with Cisco DNA Center for zero-touch provisioning, unified policy management, and full lifecycle automation

6. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Large Enterprise Mission-Critical SD-Access Fabric Core
   Dual virtual paired C9606R-E enhanced bundles serve as redundant fabric border nodes with full N+N power redundancy; 10G/25G fiber uplinks connect downstream Catalyst 9400 distribution switches, supporting tens of thousands of wired and Wi-Fi 6/6E wireless endpoints with out-of-box full HA to minimize deployment labor.
2. Mid-to-Large Hybrid Data Center Spine Backbone
   40G/100G QSFP28 line cards connect leaf switches, storage arrays, and multi-cloud gateway devices; hardware VRF multi-tenancy logically isolates enterprise, virtual server, and cloud tenant workloads for secure multi-tenant hosting.
3. Ultra-High-Density Unified Wireless Aggregation Core
   25G SFP56 uplinks aggregate massive fleets of multi-radio wireless controllers and enterprise APs; hardware QoS prioritizes low-latency voice, video, and real-time collaboration traffic for global campus wireless networks.
4. Industrial & Smart Multi-Building Campus Backbone
   Long-distance single-mode fiber trunking for distributed industrial IoT controllers, IP surveillance subnets, and building automation gateways; hardware MACsec encryption secures critical control plane transport for regulated manufacturing and healthcare facilities.
5. Education, Government & Financial Enterprise Core Network
   Factory pre-built full redundant hardware meets strict public sector and financial industry zero-downtime compliance requirements; centralized security, power, and fabric policy management via Cisco DNA Center, eliminating separate component ordering and on-site assembly delays.

7. Standard Package Contents of C9606R-E Enhanced Pre-Assembled SKU

• Dual pre-installed C9600X-SUP-2 Gen2 Silicon One supervisor engines with high-capacity SSD storage
• Integrated N+1 enhanced high-capacity hot-swappable fan tray
• Full set of 4 × Platinum high-efficiency AC power supplies for complete N+N power redundancy
  Integrated rack mounting hardware kit, front/rear cable management brackets and cable guides
  Complete hardware installation guide, global safety, EMC, NEBS seismic, and RoHS regulatory compliance documentation

Separately Sold Mandatory & Optional Accessories

1. Mandatory add-ons for full operational functionality
   • Catalyst 9600 series fiber/copper line cards (SFP/SFP28/QSFP28/QSFP-DD or multigigabit PoE++ copper modules)
   • SFP/SFP28/QSFP28/QSFP-DD optical transceivers, breakout adapters, and fiber patch cords
2. Optional upgrade hardware
   • DC/HVDC power supply modules for telco/colocation environments
   • Spare replacement fan tray, spare power supply units for on-site hot swap inventory
   • Supervisor SSD storage expansion modules for increased telemetry/log storage capacity
3. Software Licenses
   • DNA Advantage perpetual license required for full SD-Access EVPN, MACsec encryption, streaming telemetry, and advanced automation features
   • DNA Essentials base license for fundamental Layer 2/Layer 3 switching and routing functionality

Short Commercial Catalog Summary for Quotation