4506 vc 4503 switches

[TSM031661]

can you tell me the price difference between the two,

And what are there differences

[Jon Marshall]

Tamara

Don't have the costs to hand but with the 4500 and 6500 switches the chassis is not really the expensive bit so there should not be a huge difference. The cost really comes in when you choose the modules you use in the chassis.

As for the difference - well 4506 = 6 slots, 4503 = 3 slots. Neither suport redundant supervisors, for that you need the 4507 or 4510.

Jon

[Joseph W. Doherty]

As Jon has already noted, the only real major difference is the number of line card slots and there's often not a huge difference in price.

Jon also noted that to support a redundant supervisor you need different 4500 chassis, the 4507R or 4510R. However, unlike the 6500 chassis, (I recall) the "extra" slot can only be used by a redundant supervisor although you don't need to have one in the chassis.

BTW, if you're shopping 4500s, do note, for much gig bandwidth, the original 4500 series only supports 6 Gbps bandwidth per line card slot (you can, though, have many more gig ports). The later 4500-E series (with the correct line cards and supervisor) support up to 24 Gbps bandwidth per line card slot.

Also BTW, even higher performance is available with the 6500 series. Lastly, depending on your requirements, you might also want to examine Cisco stackable switches.