CHAPTER
Introduction 1-1
1
Introduction
This chapter contains an overall description of the BPX 8600 Series. For installation information,
refer to the Cisco BPX 8600 Series Installation and Configuration publication. Also, refer to the
Cisco WAN Switching Command Reference publications.
This chapter contains the following:
• General Description
• New with Release 9.1
• Continuing Features with Release 9.1
• BPX Switch Operation
• Traffic and Congestion Management
• Network Management
• Switch Availability
General Description
The Cisco BPX® 8600 Series wide-area switches are standards based high-capacity broadband
ATM switches that provides backbone ATM switching and deliver a wide range of user services (see
Figure 1-1). The BPX 8600 Series includes the BPX 8620 switch and the BPX 8650 tag switch.
BPX Capabilities
Fully integrated with the Cisco MGX™ 8220 edge concentrator, Cisco IPX® wide-area switch, and
Cisco IGX™ 8400 series wide-area switch, the BPX switch is a scalable, standards-compliant unit.
Using a multi-shelf architecture, the BPX switch supports both narrowband and broadband user
services. The modular, multi-shelf architecture enables users to incrementally expand the capacity
of the system as needed. The BPX switch consists of the BPX shelf with fifteen card slots which may
be co-located with the MGX 8220 and Extended Services Processor (ESP), as required.
Three of the slots on the BPX switch shelf are reserved for common equipment cards. The other
twelve are general purpose slots used for network interface cards or service interface cards. The
cards are provided in sets, consisting of a front card and associated back card. The BPX shelf can be
mounted in a rack enclosure which provides mounting for a co-located ESP and the MGX 8220
interface shelves.
