The Cisco®Catalyst® 3850 Series is the next generation of enterprise-class stackable Ethernet and Multigigabit Ethernet access and aggregation layer switches that provide full convergence between wired and wireless on a single platform. Cisco’s new Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) powers the switch and enables uniform wired-wireless policy enforcement, application visibility, flexibility and application optimization. This convergence is built on the resilience of the new and improved Cisco StackWise-480 technology. The Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches support full IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), Cisco Universal Power over Ethernet (Cisco UPOE), modular and field-replaceable network modules, RJ45 and fiber-based downlink interfaces, and redundant fans and power supplies. With speeds that reach 10Gbps, the Cisco Catalyst 3850 Multigigabit Ethernet Switches support current and next-generation wireless speeds and standards (including 802.11ac Wave 2) on existing cabling infrastructure.

- Integrated wireless controller capability with:
- Up to 40G of wireless capacity per switch (48-port RJ45 models)
- Support for up to 100 access points and 2000 wireless clients on each switching entity (switch or stack)
- 24 and 48 10/100/1000Mbps data PoE+ and Cisco UPOE models with energy-efficient Ethernet (EEE)
- 24 and 48 100Mbps/1/2.5/5/10 Gbps Cisco UPOE models with energy-efficient Ethernet (EEE)
- 12- and 24-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet SFP-based models
- 12- and 24-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+-based models
- 48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ model with 4 fixed 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+ uplinks
- Cisco StackWise-480 technology provides scalability and resiliency with 480 Gbps of stack throughput^[1]
- Cisco StackPower™ technology provides power stacking among stack members for power redundancy1
- Five optional uplink modules^[2] with 4 x Gigabit Ethernet, 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 4 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet^[3], 8 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet4, or 2 x 40 Gigabit Ethernet QSFP+^[4] ports
- Dual redundant, modular power supplies and three modular fans providing redundancy
- Full IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) with 30W power on all copper ports in 1 rack unit (RU) form factor
- Cisco UPOE with 60W power per port in 1 rack unit (RU) form factor
- Software support for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, multicast routing, modular quality of service (QoS), Flexible NetFlow (FNF), and enhanced security features
- Single universal Cisco IOS® Software image across all license levels, providing an easy upgrade path for software features
- Enhanced limited lifetime warranty (E-LLW) with next business day (NBD) advance hardware replacement and 90-day access to Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support