PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P
Cisco Catalyst 9300-48P
★ 3.3 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Switching Capacity: 256 Gbps (Standalone) / 736 Gbps (Stacked)
  • Forwarding Rate: 190.47 Mpps (Standalone) / 547.62 Mpps (Stacked)
  • Ports: 48 x 10/100/1000 Ethernet PoE+ ports; modular uplinks (1G, 10G, 25G, 40G options)
  • PoE Budget: 437W (Default with 715W PSU); Up to 1440W (Maximum with dual 1100W PSUs)
  • Layer: Layer 2, Layer 3
  • Stacking support: StackWise-480 (480 Gbps bandwidth; up to 8 units in a stack)

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Industry-leading StackWise-480 stacking bandwidth for high scalability; Innovative StackPower technology for power redundancy across the stack; Advanced security including AES-256 MACsec and Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA); x86 CPU architecture allows hosting of third-party containers and apps
  • ✘ Cons: Complex and mandatory Cisco DNA Smart Licensing model; Higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than the Catalyst 9200 series; Significant heat and fan noise when under full PoE load; Historical hardware reliability issues with specific DRAM/DIMM batches
  • Est. Price: $3,200 - $4,800

Compare Against

Ubiquiti Pro Max Aggregation (USW-Pro-Max-Aggregation)
Ubiquiti Pro Max Aggregation (USW-Pro-Max-Aggregation)
★ 5.0 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Switching Capacity: 760 Gbps
  • Forwarding Rate: 565.44 Mpps
  • Ports: (28) 10G SFP+, (4) 25G SFP28
  • PoE Budget: N/A
  • Layer: L3
  • Stacking support: No (Hardware Stacking)

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Features Etherlighting™ for visual port/VLAN management, 25G SFP28 uplinks for high-speed backbone, Full Layer 3 switching capabilities, Fanless silent operation.
  • ✘ Cons: Higher price premium for Etherlighting compared to Pro Aggregation, requires expensive SFP+ or SFP28 transceivers, no dedicated hardware stacking ports.
  • Est. Price: $949 - $999

Popular Comparisons

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