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
Fortinet FortiSwitch 124G
★ 3.7 Value Score
Technical Specifications
Switching Capacity: 240 Gbps
Forwarding Rate: 355 Mpps
Ports: 24x 100/1000/2.5G RJ45, 6x 10G SFP+
PoE Budget: N/A
Layer: L2 with Static Routing
Stacking support: Yes (via FortiLink)
Curation Review
✔ Pros:Full 2.5G multi-gigabit support on all 24 access ports; robust 60Gbps uplink capacity via 6x 10G SFP+ ports; fanless design for silent operation; native FortiLink integration for centralized management via FortiGate.
✘ Cons:Non-PoE model (requires FPOE variant for power); advanced L3 features like OSPF/BGP require a separate license; lacks hardware-based MC-LAG support found in higher-tier models.