Reports & Publications
Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 6800 series 10GLRi module versus Cisco Systems, Inc. Catalyst 6509 outfitted with WS-S6502-10GE 10-Gigabit Ethernet LAN PHY Interface Competitive Performance Evaluation
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Abstract
Tolly Group Report #202135 (June 2002) compares Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 6800 with a 10 GLRi 10 GbE module to Cisco Catalyst 6509 with a WS-X6502-10GE interface in zero-loss Layer 3 tests over a single 10 Gb/s link.
Baseline throughput. With 10,000 IP addresses, BlackDiamond forwarded 77.8% of bidirectional line rate at 64-byte frames, whereas Catalyst achieved 46.7%; at 1,518-byte frames both reached about 80%.
Policy impact. Enabling and logging ACLs caused no throughput loss on BlackDiamond, while Catalyst dropped 7.8% of line rate. With IEEE 802.1p/Q QoS rules active, BlackDiamond delivered 100% of high-priority traffic, whereas Catalyst forwarded only 43.5%.
Congestion control. Under flow-control tests at 100% input load of 64-byte frames, BlackDiamond forwarded 100% of theoretical throughput, while Catalyst managed 47.3%.
Jumbo frames. Both switches achieved 78% of theoretical throughput with 9,216-byte frames across the 10 Gb/s link.
Bottom line: BlackDiamond 6800 matches or exceeds Catalyst 6509 in raw 10 GbE throughput and sustains wire speed under ACL, QoS and flow-control stress, giving network managers confidence that policy enforcement and traffic management will not degrade high-bandwidth links.