Extreme BlackDiamond

Mon Oct 13 19:11:00 UTC 2003

> > On the other hand, 6500s can do both L2 and L3 rather well, including
> > BGP.
> 
> Aren't most of the 6500 blades the same as the 7600 ones anyway? Between
> these two IMHO we are looking at a blurry distinction between a router
> with very good switching capabilities and a L3 switch with very good
> routing capabilities.

Until the Sup720, it was simple: 6500 with Sup2/MSFC2/PFC2 and at least
one OSM equals 7600. The difference is mostly a marketing one.

I don't understand how you can differentiate between a router and an L3
switch. In my view "L3 switch" is a marketing term. All high end boxes
do hardware based IP forwarding, whether their ancestry is from the L2
or the L3 side.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug at nethelp.no