N3K-C3048TP-1GE Cisco Nexus Managed Switch, 48 Ports

Cisco Nexus N3K-C3048TP-1GE Managed Network Switch

• Enterprise-grade Cisco Nexus switch engineered for high-density access and aggregation layers
• Designed with forty-eight Ethernet ports and additional high-speed uplink capability
• Optimized for scalable, low-latency data center and enterprise environments

General Product Overview

• Manufacturer: Cisco
• Part Number or SKU: N3K-C3048TP-1GE
• Device Category: Managed Ethernet Switch
• Port Configuration: 48 network ports
• Form Factor: 1U rack-mountable chassis

Port Configuration and Interfaces

Ethernet Connectivity

• 48 x 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet ports for flexible access-layer deployment
• 4 x 10 Gigabit SFP+ uplink interfaces for high-speed backbone connections
• Support for copper and fiber-based network topologies

High-Speed Data Handling

• Built to support demanding workloads in modern switching infrastructures
• Efficient traffic distribution across multiple connected devices

Performance Capabilities

• Switching Bandwidth: Up to 176 Gbps for non-blocking data flow
• Forwarding Rate: 132 million packets per second
• Optimized packet processing for latency-sensitive applications

Scalability and Capacity

Layer 2 and Virtualization Support

• Supports up to 4096 VLANs for advanced network segmentation
• MAC address table capacity of 128K entries
• Jumbo frame support up to 9216 bytes for improved throughput

Spanning Tree Capabilities

• Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol instances: 64
• Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol instances: 512
• Enhanced loop prevention and faster network convergence

Routing and Traffic Management

Supported Routing Protocols

• Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
• IGMP v2 and v3 for multicast traffic optimization

Quality and Traffic Control Features

• Advanced Quality of Service (QoS) for traffic prioritization
• Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED) congestion management
• Broadcast, multicast, and unicast storm control

Network Security and Reliability Features

• DHCP snooping for enhanced IP address management security
• Virtual Routing and Forwarding Lite (VRF-Lite) support
• Rapid Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVRST+)
• Syslog integration for centralized monitoring

Enterprise-Class Data Center Switching Architecture for High-Density Networks

The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch with 48 ports represents a critical component within the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series, a family of switches purpose-built for modern data center environments that demand predictable latency, high availability, and scalable performance. This category of Nexus managed switches is designed to support top-of-rack and aggregation-layer deployments where deterministic behavior, advanced Layer 2 and Layer 3 features, and seamless integration with Cisco’s data center ecosystem are essential. The 48-port configuration delivers a dense access layer capable of supporting a large number of server, storage, and network endpoints while maintaining consistent forwarding performance under heavy workloads.

In enterprise and service provider data centers, switching infrastructure must balance performance with operational simplicity. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP platform exemplifies this balance by combining a non-blocking architecture with comprehensive management and automation capabilities. This category is particularly relevant for organizations transitioning from legacy three-tier architectures to modern leaf-spine topologies, where low-latency east-west traffic handling becomes a dominant requirement. The managed switch category encompassing the N3K-C3048TP-1GE addresses these needs by delivering hardware-based forwarding, robust buffering, and intelligent traffic handling that aligns with virtualization, cloud computing, and high-performance computing workloads.

48-Port High-Density Design Optimized for Data Center Access Layers

The 48-port layout of the Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch is engineered to maximize rack efficiency and connectivity density. Within this category, switches are expected to provide sufficient port count to connect multiple servers, hypervisors, or storage nodes within a single rack while minimizing the physical footprint. The compact form factor allows deployment in space-constrained data centers without sacrificing performance or reliability. Each port is designed to deliver consistent throughput and low latency, ensuring predictable network behavior even during peak utilization periods.

This high-density access layer capability is essential for data centers that support virtualization platforms such as VMware, Hyper-V, and containerized environments. As workloads dynamically migrate between hosts, the underlying switching infrastructure must maintain uninterrupted connectivity and policy enforcement. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category supports these requirements by offering advanced MAC address scalability, rapid convergence, and efficient handling of broadcast, unknown unicast, and multicast traffic. These attributes help maintain network stability as server density and workload mobility increase.

Layer 2 and Layer 3 Feature Integration for Flexible Network Design

Managed switches in the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series, including the N3K-C3048TP-1GE, are designed to operate seamlessly across both Layer 2 and Layer 3 domains. This dual capability allows network architects to design flexible topologies that support traditional VLAN-based segmentation as well as routed architectures that improve scalability and fault isolation. The category is particularly suited for environments that require rapid convergence and minimal packet loss during topology changes, such as financial trading platforms, real-time analytics clusters, and mission-critical enterprise applications.

Layer 2 features within this category include advanced VLAN handling, spanning tree enhancements, and support for large MAC address tables. At the Layer 3 level, the switch category supports dynamic routing protocols, static routing, and policy-based forwarding that enable efficient traffic engineering. By integrating these capabilities into a single platform, the Cisco Nexus 3048TP category reduces the need for additional network devices, simplifying overall design and lowering operational complexity.

Low-Latency Switching for Performance-Sensitive Applications

One of the defining characteristics of the Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category is its focus on low and predictable latency. Data center applications increasingly rely on real-time communication between distributed components, making network delay a critical performance factor. The switching architecture within this category is optimized to minimize packet processing delays, ensuring that latency-sensitive workloads receive consistent network performance.

This low-latency behavior is achieved through a combination of hardware-based forwarding, optimized buffering strategies, and streamlined control plane operations. For applications such as high-frequency trading, large-scale databases, and real-time analytics, even microsecond-level improvements in latency can translate into measurable business advantages. The Nexus 3048TP category provides a reliable foundation for these demanding environments by ensuring that network-induced delays remain minimal and predictable.

Advanced Management and Automation Capabilities

Modern data center networks require centralized management, automation, and visibility to operate efficiently at scale. The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category integrates tightly with Cisco NX-OS, a feature-rich operating system designed for high availability and operational consistency. NX-OS provides a unified command-line interface, robust APIs, and support for automation frameworks that simplify configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting across large switch deployments.

This category supports model-driven programmability, allowing network operators to automate repetitive tasks and enforce configuration consistency across multiple devices. Integration with orchestration tools and configuration management systems enables rapid provisioning and scaling, which is particularly valuable in cloud and hybrid data center environments. By reducing manual intervention, the Nexus 3048TP category helps minimize configuration errors and accelerates deployment timelines.

Operational Visibility and Telemetry

Operational insight is a critical requirement for managed switch categories deployed in complex data center environments. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category offers extensive monitoring and telemetry capabilities that provide real-time visibility into network performance, traffic patterns, and resource utilization. These insights enable proactive troubleshooting and capacity planning, helping organizations identify potential issues before they impact application performance.

Advanced logging, event correlation, and performance metrics allow network teams to analyze trends and optimize network configurations over time. This level of visibility is especially important in environments with rapidly changing workloads, where static monitoring approaches may fail to capture transient performance anomalies. The managed switch category ensures that network operations teams have the tools necessary to maintain high service levels and operational efficiency.

High Availability and Resilience Features

Data center networks must be designed for continuous operation, with minimal downtime and rapid recovery from failures. The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category incorporates high availability features that enhance network resilience. These include redundant components, fast failover mechanisms, and support for non-disruptive software upgrades. Such capabilities are essential for organizations that operate mission-critical applications and cannot tolerate extended outages.

The ability to perform maintenance and upgrades without impacting traffic flow is a key advantage of this category. In large-scale deployments, planned maintenance windows can be costly and disruptive. By enabling in-service software upgrades and graceful failover, the Nexus 3048TP category helps organizations maintain continuous network availability while still keeping infrastructure up to date.

Scalability for Growing Data Center Environments

As data center requirements evolve, switching infrastructure must be able to scale without requiring a complete redesign. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category is designed with scalability in mind, supporting increasing numbers of connected devices, higher traffic volumes, and more complex network topologies. This scalability ensures that organizations can expand their infrastructure incrementally while preserving existing investments.

The 48-port configuration provides a strong foundation for scaling out server and storage connectivity at the access layer. When combined with aggregation and core switches within the broader Nexus portfolio, this category enables the creation of large, high-performance networks that can support thousands of endpoints. This scalability is particularly valuable for enterprises experiencing rapid growth, cloud service providers expanding capacity, and research institutions deploying large compute clusters.

Support for Virtualized and Cloud Workloads

Virtualization and cloud computing place unique demands on network infrastructure, including the need for rapid provisioning, workload mobility, and consistent policy enforcement. The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category is well-suited to these environments, offering features that support virtual machine mobility and dynamic workload placement. Network segmentation and traffic isolation can be maintained even as workloads move across physical hosts.

This capability is essential for private cloud deployments, hybrid cloud architectures, and multi-tenant environments where security and performance isolation are critical. By providing a stable and flexible networking foundation, the Nexus 3048TP category enables organizations to adopt modern IT models without compromising network reliability or performance.

Integration with Cisco Data Center Ecosystem

The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category benefits from deep integration with the broader Cisco data center ecosystem. This includes compatibility with other Nexus switches, Cisco management platforms, and security solutions. Such integration simplifies network design and operations by providing consistent feature sets and management paradigms across different layers of the network.

For organizations that have standardized on Cisco technologies, this category offers a seamless extension of existing infrastructure. Unified management and consistent policy enforcement across the data center help reduce operational overhead and improve overall network reliability. The ability to leverage Cisco’s extensive ecosystem of tools and support services further enhances the value of this managed switch category.

Security and Traffic Control Capabilities

Security is a fundamental consideration in data center networking, and the Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category incorporates features that help protect network resources and data. These switches support advanced access control mechanisms, traffic filtering, and segmentation that enable organizations to enforce security policies at the network edge. By controlling traffic flows at the access layer, potential threats can be mitigated before they propagate through the network.

This category supports granular policy enforcement that aligns with compliance requirements and internal security standards. Network administrators can define and enforce rules that govern how devices and applications communicate, reducing the attack surface and improving overall security posture. These capabilities are particularly important in environments that handle sensitive data or operate under strict regulatory frameworks.

Traffic Prioritization and Quality of Service

In mixed-workload environments, not all traffic has equal importance. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category includes quality of service capabilities that allow network operators to prioritize critical traffic and ensure consistent performance for latency-sensitive applications. By classifying and managing traffic flows, the switch can allocate resources effectively and prevent congestion from impacting key services.

These traffic control features are essential for environments that support voice, video, real-time analytics, and other performance-critical applications alongside general data traffic. By ensuring predictable network behavior, the managed switch category helps maintain application performance and user experience even during periods of high utilization.

Efficient Handling of East-West Traffic

Modern data centers generate significant volumes of east-west traffic as applications communicate internally across distributed components. The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category is optimized to handle this traffic pattern efficiently, ensuring low latency and high throughput between servers within the same rack or across adjacent racks. This capability is essential for microservices architectures, distributed databases, and clustered applications that rely on frequent internal communication.

By providing consistent performance for east-west traffic, the Nexus 3048TP category supports application architectures that scale horizontally. This enables organizations to deploy modern, cloud-native applications without being constrained by network limitations.

Reliability for Mission-Critical Deployments

Reliability is a defining characteristic of enterprise-grade managed switch categories, and the Cisco Nexus 3048TP exemplifies this standard. Designed for continuous operation in demanding environments, the switch category emphasizes hardware reliability, software stability, and robust support options. These attributes make it suitable for deployment in industries where downtime can result in significant financial or operational impact.

The emphasis on reliability extends beyond hardware design to include comprehensive testing, validation, and lifecycle support. Organizations deploying this category can rely on long-term availability, consistent performance, and access to updates and support that align with enterprise IT requirements.

Use Cases Across Enterprise and Service Provider Environments

The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category is versatile enough to support a wide range of use cases across enterprise and service provider data centers. In enterprise environments, it serves as a reliable access layer switch that connects servers, storage systems, and appliances while providing advanced management and security features. In service provider settings, it supports high-density customer connectivity and scalable architectures that can grow with demand.

This versatility is a key advantage of the category, allowing organizations to standardize on a single platform across multiple deployment scenarios. Whether supporting internal business applications, hosting customer workloads, or enabling research and development environments, the Nexus 3048TP category provides a consistent and dependable networking foundation.

Long-Term Value and Investment Protection

Investing in data center networking infrastructure requires careful consideration of long-term value and adaptability. The Cisco Nexus 3048TP category is designed to deliver sustained value by supporting evolving technologies and network designs. Its robust feature set, scalability, and integration with Cisco’s broader portfolio help protect investments as organizational needs change.

By choosing a managed switch category that balances performance, flexibility, and operational efficiency, organizations can build data center networks that remain effective and relevant over time. The Cisco N3K-C3048TP-1GE Nexus Managed Switch category embodies these principles, making it a strategic choice for modern data center deployments.