Converged Access now available on Catalyst 4500E!

Catalyst 4500E Supervisor 8-E now supports Converged Access with the IOS XE 3.7 release. The Supervisor 8-E is the latest generation high performance supervisor for Catalyst4500E and provides cutting edge features such as Service Discovery Gateway and support for SDN Openflow in addition to Converged Access and industry leading scale and performance. Miercom recently tested the performance of Supervisor 8-E and the report can be downloaded here. Since its launch, the Supervisor 8-E has become the highest selling supervisor in modular access and has been deployed by a large portion of the Catalyst 4500 install base.

The integrated wireless functionality for Converged Access on Supervisor 8-E is implemented through the same Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) ASIC as in the Catalyst 3850, so Catalyst 4500E customers who deploy Converged Access get the same field tested solution that has been deployed by thousands of Catalyst 3850 customers. Additionally, the Converged Access solution on Supervisor 8-E provides high availability (Access Point Stateful Switchover) and investment protection for wireless, which are the hallmark of the Catalyst 4500 platform.

Existing Supervisor 8-E customers can leverage their investment in Catalyst4500E platform and deploy Converged Access simply by upgrading to IOS XE 3.7 and purchasing AP adder licenses. An IPBase or Enterprise Services license is required on the Supervisor 8-E to support the integrated wireless functionality. Catalyst4500E customers who have older supervisors can upgrade to Supervisor 8-E and realize the benefits of the Converged Access architecture.

Since the introduction of Converged Access on Supervisor 8-E in January this year, customers across different verticals, such as government, education and finance, are evaluating and deploying converged access on Catalyst 4500E Supervisor 8-E. For more information reach out to ask-c4500-pm@cisco.com. Here’s what NetOne, a key partner in Japan, has to say about Converged Access on Catalyst 4500E-

“Net One Systems welcomes the support for Unified Access by Catalyst 4500 Sup8-E. Sup8-E enables the deployment of consistent end-to-end network security and QoS policies across wired and wireless infrastructure, while protecting investments made to these networks. We believe that this enables customers to make more active use of ICT tools to create a flexible work environment in which employees are no longer bound to specific time and places, helping customers achieve higher productivity.”

– Masamitsu Tanaka, technical specialist, Wireless LAN Technology, Net One Systems Co., Ltd