3Com 3CR17252-91 Specifications

SWITCHING

DATA SHEET

OVERVIEW

The 3Com®Switch 5500G Gigabit Family delivers
premium levels of performance, security and
reliability for robust switching at the enterprise
network edge. The family consists of Layer 2/3/4
Gigabit Ethernet and Power over Ethernet switches,
with advanced features that can accommodate the
most demanding applications, offering resilient and
secure connectivity and the latest traffic-prioritization
technologies to optimize applications on converged
networks. Designed for maximum flexibility and
scalability, 3Com Switch 5500G models come with 24
or 48 Gigabit ports, and offer optional modules for
10-Gigabit and SFP Gigabit uplink connections.

The switches can be stacked up to eight units high
using patented 3Com XRN

®

(eXpandable Resilient
Networking) technology. One XRN stack can provide
up to 448 Gigabit Ethernet ports, with 96 Gbps
resilient stacking bandwidth, all centrally managed,
with high-end enterprise chassis-class availability.

Further expansion is possible via clustered stacking
technology, allowing single IP management for up to
32 devices from different 3Com switch families,
including the Switch 5500G, 5500, 4800G, 4500G, 4500,
4200G and 4210.

KEY BENEFITS

ENTERPRISELEVEL PERFORMANCE

3Com Switch 5500G 10/100/1000 devices provide
switching capacity of up to 232 Gbps for 48-port
models and 184 Gbps for 24-port models. Wirespeed
line-rate performance is delivered on all ports within
the stack. Advanced Layer 3 routing—including OSPF,
PIM-SM, PIM-DM and RIP v1/v2—helps deliver
optimal performance and system response.

BUILT FOR FLEXIBILITY AND GROWTH

The Switch 5500G family consists of five models:
choose 24 or 48 Gigabit ports, with or without PoE; a
fifth SFP model offers 24 SFP Gigabit ports. Four ports
on each of these models are dual-purpose or “dual­personality”, functioning as either 10/100/1000 or with
fiber Gigabit SFPs; two of these four SFP ports also
support Fast Ethernet fiber.

All models come with an applications module slot for
adding ports or capabilities. Install an 8-port SFP
Gigabit module, or a 1- or 2-port 10-Gigabit module.
Use this in the future to add a 3Com Open Services
Networking (OSN) module.

HIGH AVAILABILITY FOR CRITICAL
APPLICATIONS

XRN technology, a 3Com innovation, enables multiple
inter-connected and stackable Layer 3 switches to be
managed as a single entity. Stack and switching fabric
setup is automated and provides a high level of
resiliency and continuous availability without adding to
network complexity. After configuration, all switches
actively share routing intelligence and network
loads—eliminating the wasted bandwidth and added
expense of a passive standby unit. Ultra-fast failover
recovery automatically redistributes traffic among the
other active units in case a switch becomes
disconnected or fails.

MULTILAYER SECURITY

The Switch 5500G family provides integrated and
distributed security enforcement that can be managed
from a central location. Access control lists (ACLs)
help protect network resources from unauthorized
access and data corruption. User-based authentication

3COM SWITCH 5500G
GIGABIT FAMILY

from top: 3Com Switch 5500G-EI 24-Port, Switch 5500G-EI PWR
24-Port, Switch 5500G-EI 48-Port, Switch 5500G-EI PWR 48-Port,
Switch 5500G-EI 24-Port SFP

Premium stackable Gigabit switches with
maximum security, convergence features
and intelligence required by the most
demanding advanced enterprise networks

and DES 56/168-bit†encryption help secure Layer 3
protocols and management controls such as SSH v2
and SNMP. IEEE 802.1X RADIUS/TACACS+ network
login and RADIUS Authenticated Device Access (RADA)
enforce access control at the network edge.

PRIORITY FOR CONVERGED BUSINESS TRAFFIC

Next-generation traffic prioritization features—
including advanced policy-based Class of Service/
Quality of Service (CoS/QoS), eight priority queues,
committed access rates, bandwidth limiting and
filtering and more—identify and optimize delay­sensitive traffic such as voice and video. To help
assure this optimization, switches can be configured
to automatically isolate voice traffic from 3Com and
other IP telephony systems within a voice-dedicated
VLAN.

UNIQUE AC/DC POWERED OPERATION

3Com Switch 5500G products are the first stackable
switches to support multiple power schemes right
out of the box, with a choice of AC, AC and DC, or DC
operation. Select models also support IEEE 802.3af
PoE, enabling power to be injected out to the edge
of the network without the need to install additional
wires or upgrade existing power supplies. The
customer-swappable power supply unit enables non­PoE models to be easily upgraded to PoE capability.

REDUNDANT POWER SYSTEM SUPPORT

All 3Com Switch 5500G models support a redundant
power system (RPS) connection.

RPS units provide these benefits:

› For PWR switches, an RPS can deliver more power

budget for IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet than
what the switches alone can provide. For example,
the Switch 5500G PWR 48-port switch has a PoE
power budget of 300 Watts, which means that less
than half of the ports can provide the full 802.3af PoE
power of 15.4 Watts. With an RPS providing power, all
48-ports can provide a full 15.4 Watts of PoE power.

› They deliver redundant power to switches so there is

continued operation should the switch unit power
supply fail. This allows for continuous operation of
advanced Enterprise networks, particularly impor­tant for converged networks running IP phones on
the network.

3Com H3C RPS Systems

3Com switches are compatible with 3Com H3C®RPS
solutions. These are enterprise-class power
redundancy systems that work with many 3Com fixed­configuration switches. 3Com Corporation
manufactures networking equipment under the H3C
brand for sale into many markets.

2

3COM SWITCH 5500G GIGABIT FAMILY

KEY BENEFITS (continued)

Provides up to 56 Gigabit Layer 2/3/4 ports per switch and up to 448 Gigabit ports in a stack eight units high, managed as a single-IP entity

Equipped with four dual-purpose ports on each switch providing either 10/100/1000 or SFP Fast¥/Gigabit Ethernet connectivity

Offers optional 1- and 2-port 10-Gigabit and 8-port SFP Gigabit modules for links to the network core

Delivers wirespeed and line-rate performance on all ports

Offers OSPF and multicast routing, 3Com XRN stacking technology and IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet

Provides high resiliency and continuous availability with active load sharing and support for ultra-fast failover recovery

Implements multilayer distributed security including ACLs, DES 56/168-bit†encryption, IEEE 802.1X network login and RADA authentication

Prioritizes converged network traffic with advanced CoS/QoS and other features to ensure high levels of service for latency-sensitive applications

Supports advanced enterprise switching technology including Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), VLAN VPN (Q-in-Q) and others

Leverages existing power schemes in data centers and switching infrastructures with built-in support for both AC and DC power

Consolidates administrative control and enhances core-to-edge visibility with an operating system shared with 3Com modular switches and routers

Offers an SFP-based model with 24 SFP Gigabit ports, four of which are dual-purpose

Backed by top-flight service, support and training from 3Com and 3Com authorized partners

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

¥

Two of the four SFP ports are capable of supporting Fast Ethernet fiber, via 1000BASE-X compatible SFP transceivers 3CSFP9-81 and 3CSFP9-82.

†

168-bit encryption not available in all countries. Refer to www.3com.com for details.

3

3COM SWITCH 5500G GIGABIT FAMILY

Ed

g

e

2

Ed

g

e

1

Dis

t

r

ib

ut

io

n

2

Dis

t

r

ib

ut

io

n

1

Cor

e

Dat

a C

en

t

er

L

A

N

C

l

i

e

n

t

s

W

i

r

e

l

e

s

s

P

C

3

C

o

m

W

ir

e

l

e

s

s

LA

N

C

o

nt

r

oll

er

W

X4

4

0

0

3

CR

W

X

4

4

0

0

9

5

A

W

i

r

e

l

e

s

s

L

A

N

Co

n

t

r

o

l

l

e

r

W

X

4

4

0

0

3

C

o

m

W

ir

e

l

es

s

L

AN

Sw

i

t

c

h

M

a

n

a

ge

r

W

i

r

e

l

e

s

s

L

A

N

S

w

i

t

c

h

M

a

n

a

g

e

r

I

P

P

h

o

n

e

s

W

i

r

el

es

s

LA

N

M

ana

g

e

d

A

c

c

es

s

P

o

in

t

A

P

27

5

0

3

C

o

m

®

W

ir

e

l

e

s

s

L

AN

M

a

n

a

g

e

d

A

c

c

e

s

s

P

o

i

n

t

A

P

3

7

5

0

P

D

A

/

Vo

W

i

Fi

P

h

o

n

e

W

i

r

e

l

e

s

s

P

C

P

D

A

/

Vo

W

i

Fi

P

h

o

ne

3

C

o

m

S

w

i

t

c

h

7

7

5

8

3

C

o

m

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

G

-

E

I

st

a

c

k

-

u

p

e

r

a

c

w

i

c

-

-

o

r

-

u

p

e

r

a

c

w

i

c

-

-

o

r

-

u

p

e

r

a

c

w

i

c

-

-

o

r

-

u

p

e

r

a

c

w

i

c

-

-

o

r

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

3

C

R

1

7

1

7

2

-

9

1

S

u

p

e

r

S

t

a

c

k

4

S

w

i

t

c

h

5

5

0

0

-

E

I

P

W

R

5

2

-

P

o

r

t

S

w

i

t

c

h

8

8

1

4

S

wi

tch

880

7

3Co

m

V

C

X™

V

70

0

0

S

e

r

v

e

r

3

Co

m

R

o

u

t

e

r

6

0

8

0

3C

om

E

nte

r

pr

is

e

M

an

ag

e

m

e

n

t

S

y

s

t

e

m

Tip

p

i

n

g

P

o

i

nt

™

5

0

0

0

E

S

er

v

e

r

s

W

AN

/

In

te

r

n

e

t

E

t

he

rne

t

/F

a

st

E

t

h

e

rn

e

t

Gi

g

a

bi

t

E

t

he

r

ne

t

10-

G

iga

bi

t

E

t

he

r

ne

t

Po

w

e

r

o

ve

r

E

the

r

ne

t (P

o

E

)

Li

n

k

A

g

gre

g

a

ti

o

n

(

LA

G)

In the above network, 3Com Switch 4500G and Switch 5500G-EI units are managed as a single cluster.

SWITCH 5500G FAMILY IN ENTERPRISE CAMPUS NETWORK