Cisco’s Catalyst 6500 (Cat6K) series platform is one of the most widely deployed switches used for data center and enterprise network connectivity. The Cat6K platform has been in production for nearly a decade and the longevity of the platform is a testament to Cisco’s value proposition of investment protection.

Cisco has worked very closely with VMware to create new technologies that enable virtual machine aware policies in data center switches that have migratory properties. This white paper will provide an overview of some of Cisco’s data center platforms and their virtualization aware features; specifically the Nexus product line of switches (1000V, 2000, 5000, 7000) and the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS).