Cisco WS-X6748-GE-TX
Cat6500 48-port 10/100/1000 GE Mod: fabric enabled, RJ-45
Product Highlights
What's Included
(1) MEM-XCEF720-256M
Maintaining high-density Gigabit Ethernet access in a Catalyst 6500 chassis demands line cards that balance port count, forwarding performance, and investment protection. The Cisco WS-X6748-GE-TX delivers exactly that — a 48-port 10/100/1000 RJ-45 Ethernet module built on the CEF720 fabric-enabled architecture.
Designed for the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series, this line card provides a 40 Gbps interconnection to the Supervisor Engine 720's switch fabric, ensuring wire-rate forwarding across all 48 copper Gigabit Ethernet ports. It ships with the WS-F6700-CFC centralized forwarding card installed, enabling centralized CEF switching at up to 30 Mpps. When your network demands grow, the CFC can be field-replaced with a DFC3-series distributed forwarding daughter card to unlock distributed CEF (dCEF) and dramatically scale per-module forwarding performance.
This listing includes the MEM-XCEF720-256M memory module, ensuring the line card is ready for deployment. Whether you're refreshing access-layer ports in a campus wiring closet, expanding server farm connectivity, or maintaining spares for an existing Catalyst 6500 deployment, the WS-X6748-GE-TX provides the density, flexibility, and proven Cisco reliability your infrastructure requires.
Features & Benefits
High-Density Gigabit Ethernet Access
With 48 auto-negotiating 10/100/1000 RJ-45 ports in a single slot, the WS-X6748-GE-TX maximizes copper Gigabit Ethernet density in your Catalyst 6500 chassis. This reduces the number of slots consumed, freeing chassis capacity for uplink modules or service blades.
CEF720 Fabric-Enabled Switching
The module connects to the Supervisor Engine 720's switch fabric at 40 Gbps, delivering high-throughput, low-latency forwarding across all ports. This fabric-enabled architecture is a significant step up from classic bus-based modules, supporting demanding campus and data center workloads.
Flexible Forwarding Architecture
Ships with the WS-F6700-CFC centralized forwarding card for up to 30 Mpps centralized switching. When higher performance is needed, the CFC can be field-replaced with a DFC3A, DFC3B, DFC3BXL, DFC3C, or DFC3CXL daughter card to enable distributed CEF — a true pay-as-you-grow upgrade path.
Deep Per-Port Buffering
Each port is backed by 1.3 MB of dedicated buffer memory, helping absorb micro-bursts and maintain application performance during traffic spikes. Hardware-based multicast replication engines (2 per module) further offload the supervisor engine.
Hot-Swappable & Field-Serviceable
The module supports online insertion and removal (OIR), allowing you to add, replace, or upgrade line cards without disrupting the rest of the chassis. The daughter card slot is also field-serviceable, simplifying forwarding card upgrades.
Deployment Scenarios
Campus Access Layer
Deploy the WS-X6748-GE-TX in Catalyst 6500 chassis serving as campus access or distribution switches. The 48 copper GE ports connect directly to desktops, IP phones, wireless access points, and other end devices over standard Cat5e/Cat6 cabling.
Server Farm / Data Center Connectivity
Use the module to provide high-density 1 GbE copper connections to rack-mounted servers in data center environments. The 40 Gbps fabric interconnect and deep per-port buffers support the bursty traffic patterns typical of server-to-server communication.
Catalyst 6500 Lifecycle Maintenance & Spares
For organizations maintaining existing Catalyst 6500 deployments past the platform's End-of-Life milestone, the WS-X6748-GE-TX serves as a critical replacement spare. Keeping tested modules on hand minimizes downtime when a field failure occurs.
General
Interfaces & Connectivity
Performance
Queuing
Daughter Card
Memory
Physical
Compliance & Standards
Compatibility
Compatibility Notes
Supported Chassis: Cisco Catalyst 6506, 6509, 6509-NEB-A, and slots 9–13 on Catalyst 6513. The Catalyst 6503 is not supported for this module.
Supervisor Engine: Requires Supervisor Engine 720 (or Supervisor Engine 32/2T depending on daughter card installed) for fabric-enabled operation.
Included Daughter Card: WS-F6700-CFC (Centralized Forwarding Card). Can be field-upgraded to WS-F6700-DFC3A, DFC3B, DFC3BXL, DFC3C, or DFC3CXL for distributed forwarding.
Included Memory: MEM-XCEF720-256M (256 MB memory for CEF720 operation).
Note: This product is part of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 platform, which has reached End-of-Life (EOL) status. Cisco TAC support availability depends on your specific service contract and applicable EoL milestone dates.
Downloads & Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
| Part Number | Product | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|
| WS-X6748-GE-TX-3BXL | Cat6500 48-Port 10/100/1000 GE w/ DFC3BXL | Ships with WS-F6700-DFC3BXL for distributed forwarding instead of the CFC — higher per-module forwarding performance out of the box. |
| WS-X6748-GE-TX-3CXL | Cat6500 48-Port 10/100/1000 GE w/ DFC3CXL | Includes the DFC3CXL daughter card, supporting VSS mode and the highest distributed forwarding tier for the 67xx platform. |
| WS-X6748-SFP | Cat6500 48-Port GE SFP Module | Fiber-based SFP variant — choose this when your deployment requires fiber optic connectivity instead of copper RJ-45. |
| WS-X6548-GE-TX | Cat6500 48-Port 10/100/1000 GE (CEF256) | Older CEF256-based module with 32 Gbps bus architecture. Lower performance ceiling; does not support DFC daughter cards. |
