N5K-C5548UP-FA with 32 fixed unified ports, Front to Back airflow

Cisco N5K-C5548UP-FA – Nexus 5548UP 32‑Port Unified Switch, 3 Expansion Slots, Front‑to‑Back Airflow

The Cisco Nexus N5K‑C5548UP‑FA is a 1RU unified access switch delivering 32 fixed Unified Ports (1/10GE + FCoE) with modular expansion for 10/40 Gigabit Ethernet. Engineered for low‑latency, high‑performance data‑center fabrics, it provides 960 Gbps switching capacity and up to 720 mpps Layer 2 forwarding, making it ideal for converged I/O, virtualization, and scalable leaf‑spine architectures. The FA model features front‑to‑back airflow for hot‑aisle/cold‑aisle alignment.

🔧 Key Specifications

• Ports: 32 Unified Ports (1/10 Gigabit Ethernet + FCoE capable)
• Performance: 960 Gbps Layer 2 throughput; 714 mpps forwarding
• Layer 3 Performance: Up to 160 Gbps or 240 mpps with L3 module
• Expansion: 3 module slots for additional 10GE, 40GE, or L3 routing modules
• Cooling: Front‑to‑Back airflow (FA model)
• Power: Supports dual hot‑swappable PSUs (AC or DC options)
• Fans: 4 hot‑swappable fan modules
• Form Factor: 1RU rack‑mountable
• Dimensions: 1.75 × 17.3 × 29.5 in
• Weight: 37 lb

🧩 Ideal Use Cases

• Converged I/O deployments combining LAN and SAN traffic over a unified fabric
• Virtualized server access requiring predictable low latency and high throughput
• Leaf‑spine architectures in enterprise and service‑provider data centers
• High‑density 10G access with optional 40G uplinks
• Scalable aggregation layers with modular expansion

⚙️ Licensing & Expansion

• Runs Cisco NX‑OS with automation, programmability, and advanced telemetry
• Unified Port architecture supports dynamic Ethernet/FCoE configuration
• Supports L3 GEM modules for routing expansion
• Flexible transceiver support: SFP+, Twinax, and fiber modules
• Redundant, hot‑swappable PSUs and fans for continuous operation