The PA-8T-232 provides up to eight EIA/TIA-232 synchronous serial interfaces for Catalyst 5000 switches (that use the Catalyst RSM/VIP2), Cisco 7000 series and Cisco 7500 series routers (that use the VIP2), Cisco 7100 series routers, and Cisco uBR7200 series routers. The EIA/TIA-232 interfaces provide a direct connection between the high-speed bus in the router and external networks. Each EIA/TIA-232 interface provides full-duplex (FDX) operation at the rate of 64 kilobits per second (kbps).