IT teams that need to carry encrypted traffic across busy sites need the Catalyst 8500 Series as a WAN edge platform for SD-WAN aggregation, cloud on-ramps and internet-facing routing. It gives infrastructure teams a clearer way to keep routing, security and hand-offs in one place without turning larger sites into overgrown branch deployments.
It suits data centres, hubs and large offices where resilient WAN termination, predictable throughput and controlled change windows matter. Higher-capacity models support heavier aggregation, while the smaller Catalyst 8500L fits sites that need stronger edge performance without the full port profile, helping teams avoid bottlenecks and keep services responsive.
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| Model | Popularity | Deployment | Primary Use Case | Form Factor | Maximum Port Speed | Routing Throughput (Gbps) | FIB / Forwarding Table Size | SD-WAN Support | High Availability Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X SD-WAN Edge Platform
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Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X4QC SD-WAN Edge Platform
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Cisco Catalyst C8500-20X6C SD-WAN Edge Platform
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Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X SD-WAN Edge Platform
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Data centre teams need to terminate branch, cloud and internet traffic at the edge without slowing encrypted flows into central applications. Catalyst 8500 Series supports high-performance WAN and SD-WAN aggregation so hub sites can keep routing, security and hand-offs on one platform.
Financial organisations need resilient, auditable connectivity for offices, payments, voice and cloud services. Catalyst 8500 Series helps keep regulated traffic separated and predictable, with enough edge capacity for busy sites and controlled change management.
Telecoms teams need high-availability edge routing for customer networks, backhaul and managed services. Catalyst 8500 Series gives service providers a fixed edge platform for consolidating WAN traffic while keeping operational systems and customer-facing services separated.
Healthcare sites need secure WAN paths for records, telehealth, imaging and branch-to-data-centre applications. Catalyst 8500 Series supports these environments with edge capacity that helps keep clinical and admin traffic available across hospitals and clinics.
Software teams need secure WAN links for labs, cloud platforms, CI/CD services and distributed developers. Catalyst 8500 Series provides edge aggregation that keeps development traffic, collaboration tools and cloud access moving with predictable performance.
Cisco ThousandEyes provides visibility across enterprise WANs, internet connections, cloud services and external providers. It helps teams identify where latency, packet loss or service degradation originates, reducing the time required to investigate connectivity and performance issues across distributed locations.
Explore WAN Performance MonitoringCisco AppDynamics monitors application health and performance across public, private and multicloud environments. Combined with network-path visibility, it helps teams understand whether a poor user experience is being caused by WAN connectivity or by the application and infrastructure supporting it.
Explore Cisco AppDynamicsAs a certified UK Cisco partner, Steel City Consulting assesses, designs, deploys and supports routing environments across branches, campuses, data centres and cloud connections. We help with platform selection, migration, circuit resilience, performance optimisation, maintenance and lifecycle planning.
Book a WAN Resilience ReviewBacked by decades of expertise in the IT sector, our specialists support every stage of your deployment — from initial selection through to long-term lifecycle management.
If these options aren’t the right fit for your environment, we provide a wide portfolio of product series and solutions that may better suit your infrastructure. Explore below, or speak to our team and we’ll help you find the right match.
Whether you know exactly what you need or you’re still evaluating options, our team is available for a no-obligation conversation.
