C9400-LC-48S – 48x 1G SFP Fiber Ports – Nonblocking – Catalyst 9400 Line Card
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C9400-LC-48S Description
The C9400-LC-48S is the Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet (SFP) line card, a single-slot fiber module carrying 48 nonblocking SFP ports for a C9404R, C9407R or C9410R chassis. Cisco positions it for enterprise, mid-market and commercial core and distribution deployments that require line-rate capability, for service provider Gigabit Ethernet aggregation covering DSLAM, PON and mobile data backhaul as well as FTTX, and for Fiber To The Desktop builds where nonblocking operation is a mandatory requirement rather than a preference. It is supported from Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 on all five supervisor engines, so it seats in chassis running C9400-SUP-1 through C9400X-SUP-2XL without a supervisor refresh, and bandwidth per slot follows that engine from 80 Gbps to 480 Gbps at 1:1 oversubscription throughout. Because the Catalyst 9400 architecture keeps packet processing, queuing, buffering and QoS on the supervisor engine and gives every line-card slot dedicated bandwidth to it, the card contributes MACsec-256 in hardware and jumbo frame handling to 9216 bytes while drawing a maximum rated 170 W and occupying one 1.6 x 14.92 x 14.57 in. slot, scaling to 384 fiber ports in a fully loaded C9410R.
Quick Specs
|
Parameter |
Specification |
|---|---|
|
Product ID |
C9400-LC-48S |
|
Ports |
48 nonblocking SFP ports at 1 GE |
|
Supported supervisor engines |
C9400-SUP-1, C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y, C9400X-SUP-2 and C9400X-SUP-2XL |
|
Bandwidth per slot |
80 Gbps with C9400-SUP-1, 240 Gbps or 120 Gbps or 80 Gbps with C9400-SUP-1XL and C9400-SUP-1XL-Y by chassis, 240 Gbps with C9400X-SUP-2, 480 Gbps with C9400X-SUP-2XL, all at 1:1 |
|
Compatible chassis |
C9404R, C9407R and C9410R, scaling from 48 to 96, 240 and 384 ports respectively |
|
Security and frames |
IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 in hardware, jumbo frames to 9216 bytes |
|
Maximum rated power |
170 W |
|
Physical form |
Occupies one chassis slot, 1.6 x 14.92 x 14.57 in. (4.06 x 37.90 x 37.00 cm) |
|
Minimum software release |
Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 |
Application Scenarios
Installed where the horizontal plant is fiber rather than copper and every desk position needs a nonblocking 1G SFP termination on a managed chassis.
Deployed to aggregate Gigabit Ethernet handoffs from DSLAM, PON and mobile data backhaul equipment, and to terminate FTTX residential and business services.
Racked in core and distribution rooms of enterprise and mid-market campuses where line-rate 1G fiber uplinks from access switches converge on one chassis.
Product Comparison
|
Parameter |
C9400-LC-48S | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fiber port count |
48 SFP |
24 SFP |
48 SFP+ or SFP |
|
Port speed |
1 GE |
1 GE |
10 GE or 1 GE |
|
Supervisor requirement |
All five supervisor engines |
All five supervisor engines |
C9400X-SUP-2 or C9400X-SUP-2XL only |
|
Minimum software release |
Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 |
Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 |
Cisco IOS XE 17.8 |
|
Ports in a full C9410R |
384 |
192 |
384 |
|
Maximum rated power |
170 W |
120 W |
250 W |
|
Rated MTBF |
937,600 hours |
1,104,470 hours |
420,073 hours |
- Halving the port count to C9400-LC-24S saves 50 W of rated draw and lifts MTBF from 937,600 to 1,104,470 hours while keeping the same slot cost, so a distribution room terminating fewer than 24 fiber runs with no near-term growth pays a full slot either way and should not fund 24 idle ports.
- Moving to C9400-LC-48XS keeps 48 fiber ports and adds 10G capability, but it forces a C9400X-SUP-2 or C9400X-SUP-2XL engine, raises rated draw to 250 W and drops MTBF to 420,073 hours; where the far end is 1G access switching, that supervisor spend buys speed the link cannot use.
- Software floor is the practical gate on the fast card rather than the slow ones. C9400-LC-48S and C9400-LC-24S both run from Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1, while C9400-LC-48XS needs 17.8, which puts the 10G option out of reach for estates held on an older validated train.
- For deciding which SKU to order, count the fiber terminations first to settle 24 against 48 ports, then confirm whether any of them must run above 1 GE, since only that second answer pulls the supervisor engine into the decision at all.
Selection Guide
1. Forty-Eight Fiber Ports Without Touching The Engine
C9400-LC-48S runs on every Catalyst 9400 supervisor engine from C9400-SUP-1 upward, so an installed chassis gains 48 fiber terminations as a single line-card line item; reaching the same port count at 10G through C9400-LC-48XS adds a C9400X-SUP-2 class engine to the order.
2. When Twenty-Four Ports Absorb The Whole Room
A room whose fiber count sits comfortably under 24 gets the same slot consumption and a lower 120 W draw from C9400-LC-24S, along with a higher 1,104,470-hour MTBF; the 48-port card only pays back once the second half of its ports is actually cabled.
3. Nonblocking Is The Design Constraint
Cisco lists this card for deployments where nonblocking operation is a mandatory requirement, including Fiber To The Desktop; where oversubscription is acceptable at the aggregation point, the higher-speed cards deliver more bandwidth per slot even though they oversubscribe under a C9400X-SUP-2 engine.
4. Power Per Slot In A Fully Loaded Chassis
At 170 W maximum rated power this card sits between the 120 W C9400-LC-24S and the 250 W C9400-LC-48XS, and eight of them in a C9410R present a materially different facility planning figure than eight 10G cards, which matters when the power supply count is already fixed.
Ordering Checklist
|
Check Item |
What to Confirm |
Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
|
Supervisor engine present |
Confirm the target chassis holds one of the five supported supervisor engines. |
The card performs no forwarding of its own, so an empty supervisor slot leaves all 48 ports inactive. |
|
Software image floor |
Confirm the chassis runs Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 or later. |
A chassis staged below that release will not bring the card into service. |
|
Free line-card slot |
Confirm an unused line-card slot exists in the target C9404R, C9407R or C9410R. |
The card takes one full slot, and supervisor slots cannot accept line cards. |
|
SFP module line items |
Confirm the 1G SFP transceivers are ordered separately and appear on the Cisco device support tables for this platform. |
The line card ships without optics, and an unlisted transceiver may be rejected by the host port. |
|
Fiber type and reach |
Confirm the installed fiber plant matches the reach and mode of the chosen SFP modules. |
A single-mode run terminated with multimode optics fails at link-up even when the connector fits. |
|
Facility power headroom |
Confirm the chassis power budget absorbs 170 W per card across the planned card count. |
Eight cards in a C9410R add a substantial facility planning figure that the installed supplies must cover. |
|
Speed of the far end |
Confirm no terminated link needs to run above 1 GE. |
This card is fixed at 1 GE, and raising a link later means replacing the card and possibly the supervisor engine. |
Front View
|
1 |
STATUS LED |
5 |
Ejector levers |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2 |
LOCATE (blue beacon) LED |
6 |
PORT LINK LED for the port in the top row |
|
3 |
Model or product number |
7 |
PORT LINK LED for the port in the bottom row |
|
4 |
Captive installation screws |
8 |
Line card Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) |
Specifications
| Parameter | Specification | Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product ID | C9400-LC-48S | Cisco ordering description | Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet (SFP), spare part number C9400-LC-48S= |
| Port count | Up to 48 nonblocking SFP ports | Port speed and media | 1 GE over SFP fiber |
| Supported supervisor engines | C9400-SUP-1, C9400-SUP-1XL, C9400-SUP-1XL-Y, C9400X-SUP-2 and C9400X-SUP-2XL | Compatible chassis | C9404R, C9407R and C9410R |
| Bandwidth per slot with C9400-SUP-1 | 80 Gbps at 1:1 oversubscription on all three chassis | Bandwidth per slot with C9400-SUP-1XL and C9400-SUP-1XL-Y | 240 Gbps on C9404R, 120 Gbps on C9407R and 80 Gbps on C9410R, all at 1:1 |
| Bandwidth per slot with C9400X-SUP-2 | 240 Gbps at 1:1 on all three chassis | Bandwidth per slot with C9400X-SUP-2XL | 480 Gbps at 1:1 on all three chassis |
| Port scaling by chassis | 48 to 96 ports in C9404R, 48 to 240 ports in C9407R and 48 to 384 ports in C9410R | Positioned deployments | Enterprise, mid-market and commercial core and distribution requiring line-rate capability; service provider DSLAM, PON, mobile data backhaul and FTTX aggregation; enterprise Fiber To The Desktop |
| Encryption | IEEE 802.1AE MACsec-256 capability in hardware | Frame handling | Layer 2 to Layer 4 jumbo frame support up to 9216 bytes |
| Forwarding architecture | Functionally transparent; packet processing, queuing, buffering and QoS run on the supervisor engine, with dedicated bandwidth from each line-card slot to the supervisor | Maximum rated power | 170 W |
| Typical power draw | Approximately 40 to 75 percent of the maximum rated value | Rated MTBF | 937,600 hours |
| Minimum software release | Cisco IOS XE 16.8.1 | Physical dimensions (H x W x D) | 1.6 x 14.92 x 14.57 in. (4.06 x 37.90 x 37.00 cm), occupying one chassis slot |
| Standards | IEEE 802.3z, 802.3x, 802.3ab, 802.3bt, 802.3at, 802.3af, 802.3az, 802.3bz and 802.3an | EtherChannel | Gigabit EtherChannel on all 1000 Mbps ports, IEEE 802.3ad LACP and PaGP, 16 ports per tuple with LACP and 8 with PaGP, and EtherChannel across line cards |
| Operating temperature | 23 to 113 degrees F (-5 to +45 degrees C) up to 6,000 feet and 23 to 104 degrees F (-5 to +40 degrees C) up to 10,000 feet, with 0 degrees C minimum ambient for cold startup | Short-term exceptional conditions | 23 to 131 degrees F (-5 to +55 degrees C) up to 6,000 feet and 23 to 122 degrees F (-5 to +50 degrees C) up to 10,000 feet |
| Storage temperature | -40 to 158 degrees F (-40 to 70 degrees C) | Relative humidity | 10 to 95 percent, noncondensing |
| Operating altitude | -60 to 3000m | Safety certifications | UL 60950-1, CAN/CSA-C222.2 No. 60950-1, EN 60950-1, IEC 60950-1, AS/NZS 60950.1 and IEEE 802.3, with fiber optic lasers rated Class 1 |
| EMC certifications | 47 CFR Part 15, CISPR22 Class A, EN 300 386 V1.6.1, EN 55022 Class A, EN 55032 Class A, CISPR 32 Class A, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3, ICES-003 Class A, TCVN 7189 Class A, V-3 Class A, CISPR24, EN55024 and TCVN 7317 | RoHS compliance | ROHS5 |
| Optics support reference | Supported optical modules and their minimum software releases are published in the Cisco transceiver module device support tables rather than in the line card data sheet |
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Quality Certifications
Customer Reviews
Questions & Answers
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What is C9400-LC-48S used for with 48-port 1G SFP fiber and no RJ-45 copper?
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Does C9400-LC-48S support 10G SFP+ optics or only 1G SFP?
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When does C9400-LC-48S fit instead of C9400-LC-24S for dense fiber?
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Is C9400-LC-48S no PoE, no RJ-45, and fiber-only for 48 SFP ports?
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Can C9400-LC-48S use single-mode or multimode 1G SFP fiber optics?
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When does C9400-LC-48S fit versus 48T copper data-only access?
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When is C9400-LC-48S wrong for 10G SFP+, copper RJ-45, PoE, or QSFP?
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What 48-port 1G SFP, fiber, optics, and aggregation details matter for C9400-LC-48S?
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