The Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Intelligent Ethernet Switches are a new line of enterprise-class, stackable, multilayer solutions that provide high availability, scalability, security and control to enhance the operation of the network. With a range of Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet configurations, the Catalyst 3550 Series can serve as both a powerful access layer switch for medium-enterprise wiring closets and as a backbone switch for mid-sized networks. For the first time, customers can deploy network-wide intelligent services, such as advanced quality of service, rate-limiting, Cisco security access control lists, multicast management, and high-performance IP routing - while maintaining the simplicity of traditional LAN switching.