Difference between 3850E and 3850S

[aarron.tame]

Hi All,

I have a client that is looking to upgrade their core switches fro NetGear to Cisco 3850's. The problem they have is they are unsure whether to get the 3850E or 3850S. 

Can someone explain what the direct differences are between the two models.

All information is really appreciated.

Thank you

Aarron

[Karsten Iwen]

The switches with -S have the IPBase software, the ones ending with -E have the IP Services software. There is a third option, -L which is LAN base:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/catalyst-3850-series-switches/models-comparison.html

The differences in these versions are explained in the Q&A:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-3850-series-switches/qa_c67-722110.html

[adawa]

Hello, Aarron. 

Karsten is correct. Check out his Q&A link for better understanding of these different versions. The question is, do you need advanced Layer 3 features on your client's core (like IP Services)? Let me know if you have other concerns or e-mail (adawa@cisco.com) me directly. Kind regards. 

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

As the other posters have already noted, the E suffix enables, from the "factory", additional features, the most important usually being dynamic routing features.  However, what I also want to mention, on many switches, you can field (configuration) upgrade a S suffix to an E suffix capability by upgrading the installed license.