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Cisco Catalyst 9300 Vs 9400 Vs 9500 Switches


There are lot of questions which I received from many users and people are still confuse about the Cisco 9300, Cisco 9400 and Cisco 9500 Catalyst switches which Cisco launches recently in the market. It is sure that the roadmap of these Catalyst portfolio is strong and all the innovations will be done on the Cisco Catalyst 9K devices. These devices can be used in the Access, Distribution and Core layer as per the requirements.



Which Switch can be used in the Access Layer from Cisco catalyst 9K series ?
Well Cisco 9300 and Cisco 9400 is designed for the Access Layer in which Cisco 9300 is a Fixed Chassis model while Cisco 9400 is a modular Chassis with two different models.



How are different models available with the Cisco 9300 Catalyst switch ?
Cisco 9300 has 2 different models- Cisco catalyst 9300 with 24 Port and Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 48 port. These models can be non-POE/POE+ and UPOE models and also come up with the multi-Gigabit support.

C9300-24T : This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 24 port and non-POE switch.
C9300-24P : This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 24 port and is POE+ Switch.
C9300-24U : This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 24 port and is UPOE Switch.
C9300-48T : This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 48 port and non-POE switch.
C9300-48P : This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 48 port and is POE+ Switch.
C9300-48U: This is Cisco Catalyst 9300 with 48 port and is UPOE Switch.

 Let me explain full information on Cisco 9300 first and then with 9400 and 9500 accordingly.
Fig 1.1- Cisco Software Defined- Access Campus Topology- Fabric

 Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series - A Fixed Chassis Access Switch with Stack functionality
The Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series is Cisco’s leading fixed enterprise switching access platform. 
  • One Rack Unit (RU), delivering up to 480 Gbps of stacking switching capacity. 
  • Scale up to 48 wireless access points per unit. 
  • Flexible uplinks: 1 Gbps, Multigigabit, 10 Gbps, and 40 Gbps. 
  • Flexible downlinks: Multi-gigabit, 2.5-Gbps, or 1-Gbps copper. Data, Cisco UPOE, and PoE+ options. 
  • Optional 120-GB local storage for application hosting and file storage purposes. 
  • Supports key high availability features: Nonstop Forwarding with Stateful Switchover (NSF/SSO), fast software upgrades, redundant power supplies and fans, and Graceful Insertion and Removal (GIR).
Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series - A modular Chassis can be replaced by Cisco 4500 Chassis

The Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series is Cisco leading modular enterprise switching access platform. 
  • Delivers up to 480 Gbps per slot, 9 Tbps per chassis. 
  • Replaces the Cisco Catalyst 4500E Series: 48 Gbps per slot, 928 Gbps per chassis. 
  • Scales up to 384 wireless access ports.
  • Flexible downlinks: Multi-gigabit, 1-Gbps copper 
  • Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP), 10-Gbps SFP+, Cisco UPOE, and PoE+ options. 
  • Supports high availability capabilities: In-Service Software Upgrades (ISSU), NSF/ SSO, uplink resiliency, N+1/N+N redundancy for power supplies, and Perpetual PoE. 
  • Dual serviceable fan-tray design and side-to- side airflow. 

 Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series - A Fixed Core Chassis
The Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series is Cisco's  leading fixed-core/aggregation enterprise switching platform. 
  • One RU, delivering 960-Gbps switching capacity. 
  • Replaces the Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series: 
  • 800 Gbps; or the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series fiber: 480 Gbps. 
  • Flexible downlinks: 40-Gbps Quad SFP (QSFP) and 10-Gbps (SFP+) switches with granular port densities. 
  • Supports high-availability capabilities such as patching, GIR, NSF/SSO, and redundant platinum-rated power supplies and fans. 
  • Supports network system virtualization with Cisco StackWise virtual technology, which is critical for its placement in the campus core. 
  • Supports advanced routing and infrastructure services.