Cisco 3750 vs 3560

What is the difference between the Cisco 3750 and 3560?  What about the 3750E vs 3750X?  These question comes from clients time and time again.  Here are the answers you need.

The main difference is that the 3750 supports Cisco StackWise, i.e. creating one large virtual switch out of multiple chassis.  The 3560 has a “cluster” feature which while it sounds close, just means that you can control multiple switches from a single one.

3750E vs 3750X

When it comes to the Cisco 3750E vs 3750X, The X offers what Cisco is calling StackPower, the ability to share power loads between multiple switches.  This is a beneficial feature when it comes to PoE+.  StackPower allows up to four members of the same StackWise group to combine their power supplies into one large virtual power supply.  It also allows some of the power supplies to be taken offline, increasing efficiency.

For building out small to medium offices these two features are quite valuable.  Start with one switch and add on with little to no disruption, while only using the power needed.

3560-C

One last thing to cover is the 3650-C series switches.  These are compact switches for the campus lan.  There are a few variants, some have PoE, some have PoE+, some can pass through PoE (3560CPD-8PT-S):

PoE pass-through gives the ability to power PoE end devices through drawing PoE(+) from the wiring closet. The Cisco Catalyst 3560CPD-8PT-S has eight downlink ports with two PoE+ input ports that allow it to be powered by another switch. The switch does not need a power supply and receives power over the uplink from an upstream PoE device, providing deployment flexibility and availability.

The 3560CPD-8PT-S is a fantastic little switch for extending your network to areas that don’t have power and need some power such as a small meeting room.