Cisco WS-SUP720
Catalyst 6500/Cisco 7600 Supervisor 720 Fabric MSFC3 PFC3A
Product Highlights
What's Included
512MB DRAM Switch Processor (1x MEM-S2-512MB)
64MB Flash Route Processor (1x BF-S720-64MB-RP)
64MB Flash Switch Processor (1x BF-S720-64MB-SP)
Enterprise campus cores and data center backbones demand a supervisor engine that can keep pace with ever-growing traffic volumes, advanced routing requirements, and stringent security policies — all without compromising reliability. The Cisco WS-SUP720 Supervisor Engine 720 with MSFC3 and PFC3A answers that challenge.
Designed for the Cisco Catalyst 6500 and Cisco 7600 series chassis, the Supervisor Engine 720 integrates a high-performance 720 Gbps crossbar switch fabric with a forwarding engine in a single module, delivering 40 Gbps of switching capacity per slot. The integrated MSFC3 provides multilayer switching and routing intelligence, running Layer 2 protocols on one CPU and Layer 3 protocols on a second CPU for efficient resource utilization. The PFC3A daughter card delivers hardware-accelerated forwarding for IPv4, IPv6, and baseline MPLS, along with wire-rate QoS, security ACLs, and NAT.
Built on the proven Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) architecture, the WS-SUP720 supports both centralized forwarding (CEF) and distributed forwarding (dCEF), making it ideal for large-scale enterprise distribution/core layers and service provider edge deployments. The PFC3 is field-upgradeable, giving you a clear path to enhanced capabilities without replacing the entire supervisor module. This product is End-of-Life (EOL) and is available as a pre-owned or refurbished unit — an excellent cost-effective option for maintaining or expanding existing Catalyst 6500 infrastructure.
Features & Benefits
High-Performance Switch Fabric
The Supervisor Engine 720 integrates a 720 Gbps crossbar switch fabric that delivers 40 Gbps of switching capacity per slot. This enables support for high-density line cards including 4-port 10GE and 48-port 10/100/1000 modules, ensuring your chassis can scale to meet growing bandwidth demands without fabric bottlenecks.
Multilayer Switching & Routing (MSFC3)
The factory-installed MSFC3 (WS-F6K-MSFC3) daughter card provides high-performance multilayer switching and routing intelligence. It runs Layer 2 protocols (such as Spanning Tree and VTP) and Layer 3 routing protocols on separate CPUs, efficiently building the CEF FIB table and downloading it to the PFC3 hardware ASICs for wire-rate forwarding decisions.
Hardware-Accelerated Forwarding (PFC3A)
The PFC3A (WS-F6K-PFC3A) daughter card features a high-performance ASIC complex that accelerates IPv4, IPv6, baseline MPLS, GRE tunneling, and NAT in hardware. This offloads the route processor and ensures consistent, predictable performance even under heavy traffic loads. The PFC3 is field-upgradeable to PFC3B or PFC3BXL for enhanced feature sets.
Advanced QoS & Security
The Supervisor Engine 720 delivers hardware-based QoS mechanisms including Layer 2–3 traffic classification, marking, and per-flow or aggregate rate limiting with up to 64 policy rates. Security features include hardware-accelerated ACLs, Port Security, CPU rate limiting, Multipath uRPF, and extensive 802.1x support — protecting your network at wire speed.
Redundancy & High Availability
Deploy a second WS-SUP720 in the redundant supervisor slot for stateful switchover (SSO) and nonstop forwarding (NSF) capabilities. This ensures uninterrupted network operation during supervisor failover events — critical for mission-critical enterprise and service provider environments.
Deployment Scenarios
Enterprise Campus Core / Distribution
The WS-SUP720 is ideally suited for enterprise campus core and distribution layers where high throughput, advanced routing, and robust QoS are essential. Its 720 Gbps fabric and hardware-based CEF architecture handle large volumes of inter-VLAN routing and policy enforcement without performance degradation.
Data Center Aggregation
In data center environments, the Supervisor Engine 720 provides the switching capacity and multilayer intelligence needed to aggregate traffic from server farms and storage networks. Hardware-accelerated IPv4/IPv6 forwarding and MPLS support enable efficient traffic engineering and service segmentation.
Service Provider Edge / Metro Aggregation
For service providers running Cisco 7600 series routers, the WS-SUP720 delivers hardware MPLS VPN, Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS), and scalable QoS — enabling differentiated services across metro and WAN aggregation points while maintaining wire-rate performance.
Legacy Network Maintenance & Sparing
Organizations with existing Catalyst 6500 deployments can use the WS-SUP720 as a cost-effective spare or replacement supervisor. Purchasing pre-owned units extends the operational life of proven infrastructure while deferring the capital expense of a full platform migration.
General
Integrated Components
Performance
Memory
Interfaces
Protocols & Features
Physical
Environmental
Compliance
Compatibility Notes
Compatible Chassis
The WS-SUP720 is supported in the following Cisco chassis:
- Catalyst 6500 Series: 6503, 6506, 6509, 6509-NEB, 6509-NEB-A, 6513
- Cisco 7600 Series: 7603, 7606, 7609, OSR-7609, 7613
Slot Requirements
The Supervisor Engine 720 occupies the switch fabric slots in the chassis: slots 1 and 2 in a 3-slot chassis, slots 5 and 6 in a 6- or 9-slot chassis, and slots 7 and 8 in a 13-slot chassis.
Line Card Compatibility
Supports all Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series interface module classes: Classic, CEF256, dCEF256, CEF720, and dCEF720.
Uplink Ports
Three uplink ports: two 1000BASE-X Ethernet ports (require SFP transceivers) and one 10/100/1000 RJ-45 port. Only two ports can be active at a time.
Operating System Support
Supported on both Cisco IOS and Cisco Catalyst OS (hybrid mode: IOS on RP, CatOS on SP).
Memory Upgrades
- Route Processor DRAM: Ships with 512 MB (MEM-MSFC2-512MB); upgradeable to 1 GB (MEM-MSFC3-1GB)
- Switch Processor DRAM: Ships with 512 MB (MEM-S2-512MB); upgradeable to 1 GB (MEM-S3-1GB)
Downloads & Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
| Part Number | Product | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|
| WS-SUP720-3B | Supervisor Engine 720 (PFC3B) | Upgraded PFC3B daughter card offers enhanced NetFlow, larger ACL/FIB tables, and additional hardware features over the PFC3A in the WS-SUP720. |
| WS-SUP720-3BXL | Supervisor Engine 720 (PFC3BXL) | Top-tier PFC3BXL provides the largest forwarding tables and highest feature capacity in the Supervisor 720 family; ships with 2 GB DRAM. |
| VS-S720-10G-3C | Virtual Switching Supervisor 720-10G | Adds 10GE uplinks and Virtual Switching System (VSS) support for chassis-level redundancy — the recommended migration path from the WS-SUP720. |
| VS-S2T-10G | Supervisor Engine 2T | Next-generation supervisor with 2 Tbps fabric capacity and 10GE uplinks; Cisco's recommended replacement for all Supervisor 720 variants. |
