The Catalyst 8540 two-port Gigabit Ethernet interface modules are ideal for supporting high-performance Layer-3 Gigabit backbone applications that require nonblocking, wire-speed performance. The two-port Gigabit Ethernet interface modules are supported by the Catalyst 8540 platform, a high-end multiservice switch that provides large enterprises and service providers with both Layer-3 and ATM switching in one integrated platform. The two-port Gigabit Ethernet interface module provides full wire-speed Layer-3 switching and supports 16K or 64K IP/Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) entries, depending on the size of routing table required.The two-port Gigabit Ethernet module for the Catalyst 8540 supports gigabit interface converter (GBIC) modular technology to ensure customers have the maximum flexibility in configuring physical network interfaces in their Gigabit Ethernet network. GBICs enable the customer to intermix any combination of 802.3z-compliant 1000BaseX interfaces on a port-by-port basis. GBICs are hot-swappable and provide easy selection or change of interfaces. Cisco is offering a 1000BaseLX/LH interface that is fully compliant with the IEEE 802.3z 1000BaseLX standard, but has the ability to go up to 10 km over single-mode fiber, 5 km further than garden-variety 1000BaseLX interfaces. The 1000BaseZX standard has the ability to transmit traffic up to 100 km over dispersion-shifted fiber.The two-port Gigabit Ethernet interface module is designed specifically to meet the demanding needs of large enterprise and service provider networks. Up to eight of the two-port Gigabit Ethernet line cards may be placed in a Catalyst 8540 chassis, providing 16 ports of nonblocking, wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet capacity in the core of an Enterprise network.