Cisco is expanding its Catalyst switching family with the addition of two more compact lines. The new compact switches are part of an effort by Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) to expand the availability of networking for retail, medical, industrial and other vertical markets.
The release includes the new Catalyst 3560-C and Catalyst 2960-C Compact Series of switches. The new Catalyst C-series retain the same feature set as larger Catalyst switches even though they are only about half the size of an Xbox gaming console.
From an engineering perspective, Cisco did a number of things in order to make a compact version of the Catalyst. Among the innovations are custom ASICs as well as new thermal design to accommodate the more compact package.
The C-class switches are intended to be deployed at a distance from the main network wiring closet, where power outlets may be limited. As such, Cisco has embedded some advance Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE +) capabilities to enable power to pass through the c-class switches. Enterprise Networking Planet details the new releases.