The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switch expands Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support. PoE, offers greater flexibility and mobility to users by delivering standards-based integrated power to increase network flexibility and usefulness with the support of new devices, services, and applications. IEEE 802.3af PoE compliance is provided in the Catalyst 4500 Series with the introduction of this new line card and Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(18)EW and CatOS Software Release 8.3(1)GLX to meet the needs of enterprise and commercial customers.

The new line card enhance the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series portfolio by giving customers the flexibility to support either the IEEE 802.3af standard or the Cisco prestandard PoE implementation on the same line card. This ensures backward compatibility with existing Cisco powered devices. This line cards support up to 15.4 Watts per port on all ports, optional power classifications, and intelligent power-management features. The new cards are compatible with any Catalyst 4500 Series or Catalyst 4000 Series chassis and can be deployed with any Supervisor Engine.