Cisco WS-C3850-12X48U-E | Catalyst 3850 48-Port Switch, 12x mGig UPOE, 1100W, IP Services

Q: What is the difference between the standard Gigabit ports and Multigigabit ports on this switch?
A: The WS-C3850-12X48U-E features 36 standard Gigabit Ethernet ports (10/100/1000) and 12 Multigigabit ports that support 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G speeds. The Multigigabit ports use IEEE 802.3bz technology to deliver speeds beyond 1 Gbps over existing Cat5e or Cat6 cabling, making them ideal for high-bandwidth devices like 802.11ac/ax wireless access points.

Q: What network modules are compatible with this switch for uplink expansion?
A: The switch has one modular network slot that supports five optional Cisco network modules: C3850-NM-4-1G (4x 1G SFP), C3850-NM-2-10G (2x 1G SFP + 2x 10G SFP+), C3850-NM-4-10G (4x 10G SFP+), C3850-NM-8-10G (8x 10G SFP+), and C3850-NM-2-40G (2x 40G QSFP+). Network modules are sold separately and not included with the switch.

Q: How many devices can I power with the UPOE capability?
A: The WS-C3850-12X48U-E supports Cisco Universal PoE (UPOE) delivering up to 60W per port on all 48 ports. With the included 1100W AC power supply, you have a PoE budget of 630W available for powered devices such as IP phones, wireless access points, PTZ cameras, and thin clients. You can add a second 1100W power supply for redundancy and increased PoE capacity.

Q: Does this switch include an embedded wireless controller?
A: Yes, the Catalyst 3850 Series includes an integrated wireless controller capability that can manage up to 100 access points and 2,000 wireless clients per switch or stack. This provides unified wired and wireless management, policy enforcement, and application visibility from a single platform, simplifying network operations.

Q: What is included with the IP Services license on this model?
A: The IP Services license (indicated by the -E suffix) provides the full feature set including advanced Layer 3 routing protocols (OSPF, EIGRP, BGP), policy-based routing, IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast routing, advanced QoS, Flexible NetFlow, and comprehensive security features including MACsec encryption and advanced ACLs. This is the highest tier license available for the Catalyst 3850 platform.