The Catalyst 6000 family delivers high-performance, multilayer switching solutions for enterprise and service provider networks. Designed to address the increased requirements for gigabit scalability, high-availability, and multilayer switching in backbone/distribution and server-aggregation environments, the Catalyst 6000 family complements the Catalyst 5000 family and 8500 series switches, which continue to provide premier wiring closet and network-core solutions, respectively. Together, the Catalyst family delivers a wide range of intelligent solutions, enabling internet/intranets for multicast, mission-critical, and voice applications.The Catalyst 6000 family delivers exceptional scalability and price/performance, supporting a wide range of interface densities, performance, and high-availability options. Its application intelligence and quality-of-service mechanisms enable customers to effectively leverage their network for increased mission-critical applications, such as multicast and ERP, without sacrificing network performance. Coupled with the extensive network services of Cisco IOS, the Catalyst 6000 family delivers powerful management, user mobility, security, high availability, and multimedia support required for today's networks.