Features and Benefits

• Cisco 550X Series switches provide the advanced feature set that growing businesses require and that high-bandwidth applications and technologies demand. These switches can improve the availability of your critical applications, protect your business information, and optimize your network bandwidth to more effectively deliver information and support applications. The switches provide the following benefits.

High-Performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet

• Cisco 550XG models in 550X Series switches break the barrier of 10 Gigabit Ethernet adoption by providing affordable and flexible configurations customized for the demanding network requirements of small and medium businesses.
• With 10G copper ports on those switches, you can easily and cost-effectively enable 10G connections to servers and network storage devices with standard RJ45 Ethernet cable. You can also connect the 10G SFP+ fiber ports to 10G uplinks of your access switches, building a high-performance aggregation or core to speed up the overall operation of your network.

High Reliability and Resiliency

• In a growing business in which availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is critical, you need to assure that employees and customers can always access the data and resources whenever they need. In these environments, stackable switches can play an important role in eliminating downtime and improving network resiliency. For example, if a switch within a Cisco 550X Series stack fails, another switch immediately takes over, keeping your network up and running. You can also replace individual devices in the stack without taking your network offline or affecting employee productivity.
• The Cisco 550X Series is designed to deliver hardware redundancy at the lowest incremental cost. Power redundancy is delivered with the Cisco RPS2300 external RPS system. If power to the switch is lost (through loss of AC power or power supply failure), the switch will automatically, and instantaneously, obtain its power from the RPS. This switchover occurs so quickly that there is no loss in traffic or reboot of the device. A Cisco RPS2300 system can be connected to up to six 550X Series switches to provide redundancy. Cooling fan redundancy is delivered through preinstalled N+1 configuration. A switch can fully support all its capabilities for the life of the product with only N fans. If one of the fans fails, the spare fan automatically takes over, without causing any downtime.
• The Cisco 550X Series provides an additional layer of resiliency with support for the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP). VRRP lets you extend the same resiliency that stacking provides for individual switches to complete network domains. By running VRRP between two stacks, you can instantly cut over from one stack to another in the event of a problem and continue operating even after a failure.
• The Cisco 550X Series also supports dual images, allowing you to perform software upgrades without having to take the network offline or worry about the network going down during the upgrade.