The Cisco Nexus core switch platform includes the 7000 series switches and the newer 7700 series switches. The 7000 series switches are comprised of the 7004 (4 slot), 7006 (6 slot), 7009 (9 slot), 7010 (10 slot) and 7018 (18 slot). The 7700 series switches are comprised of the 7706 (6 slot), 7710 (10 slot) and 7718 (18 slot) switches. The Nexus switches are high performance distribution and core switches that have features unique to the Nexus platform such as Fabric Path, OTV and multiple fabric modules for increasing capacity. In addition the Supervisor Engine 1, 2 and 2E are specific to Nexus switches. Most of the line cards support layer 2 and layer 3 forwarding. The F1 32-port GE and 10 GE line card module is a layer 2 module and used for access switch connectivity. All Nexus line cards are wire rate non-blocking (no oversubscription) except those noted. In addition the line cards specify chassis type and platform support. The Nexus switches use a distributed architecture for all layer 2 and layer 3 forwarding. That means each line card does all the layer 2 and layer 3 forwarding of packets without using the Supervisor Engine. It is similar to the Cisco 6500 switch dCEF architecture. Some of the Nexus platforms have additional slots for fabric modules that increase the line card data throughput.
