Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series switches are designed for enterprise LAN access, branch offices, Layer 3 distribution points, small and medium-sized businesses, and metropolitan (metro) Ethernet deployments. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series comprises a series of chassis ranging from 3 to 10 slots and a set of supervisor engines delivering up to 136 Gbps of Layer 2-4 switching. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series supports an extensive set of line cards, including high-density 10/100, 10/100/1000 (both with 802.3af Power over Ethernet [PoE] options), 100BASE-FX, 100BASE-LX10, 100BASE-BX-D, Gigabit Ethernet, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series offers a price-performance range of chassis: Cisco Catalyst 4510R (10 slots with redundant supervisor option), Cisco Catalyst 4507R (7 slots with redundant supervisor option), Cisco Catalyst 4506 (6 slots) and Cisco Catalyst 4503 (3 slots).