Decoding the DS-C9710 Product Identity

The ​​DS-C9710​​ model number aligns with Cisco’s high-end modular chassis convention:

• ​​DS-C​​: Catalyst 9000 series modular system
• ​​97​​: Flagship 9000-series generation 7 platform
• ​​10​​: 10-slot chassis configuration

This positions it as a ​​next-generation spine/core switch​​ targeting hyperscale data centers and AI/ML clusters requiring petabit-scale throughput and ultra-low latency.

Hardware Architecture & Performance Specifications

Reverse-engineering from Catalyst 9600 and Nexus 9500 series:

• ​​Chassis design​​: 10RU, 19″ modular chassis with 8 line card slots + 2 supervisor slots
• ​​Fabric capacity​​: 51.2 Tbps per slot (409.6 Tbps total) using Cisco Silicon One G3 ASICs
• ​​Port density​​:
  • 32x 800G OSFP per line card (breakout to 8x 100G)
  • 8x 1.6T CFP8 ports for inter-pod connectivity
• ​​Buffer memory​​: 512 MB per ASIC (8 GB per line card) with adaptive congestion control
• ​​Latency​​: 190 ns cut-through switching (bypass mode), 350 ns with full deep packet inspection

Horizontal line

The ​​quantum channel interconnect​​ between supervisors enables 48M route updates/sec – 6× faster than Catalyst 9600’s 8M routes/sec capacity.

Key Innovations & Differentiators

​​Three breakthrough capabilities​​:

1. ​​AI Fabric Orchestration​​: Hardware-accelerated collective communications (NCCL/RCCL) for 16k+ GPU clusters
2. ​​Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC)​​: 1.6T CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) reduces SerDes power by 40%
3. ​​Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Backplane​​: Entangled photon pairs for cryptographic key distribution

​​Security enhancements​​:

• ​​CRYSTALS-Kyber​​ post-quantum encryption at 800G line rate
• ​​Hardware-enforced microsegmentation​​: 1M+ SGT tags with 25 ns lookup latency
• ​​FIPS 140-3 Level 4​​ compliance for government cloud deployments

DS-C9710 vs. Previous Gen Core Switches

The ​​6.4× buffer increase​​ enables 800 μs congestion tolerance for distributed AI training jobs spanning 10k+ accelerators.

Deployment Scenarios & Implementation Challenges

​​Ideal use cases​​:

1. ​​Exascale computing fabrics​​: Coordinates 65k endpoints with 5 μs max latency variation
2. ​​Disaggregated storage​​: Manages 1k+ NVMe-oF targets at 250M IOPS
3. ​​Secure multi-cloud gateways​​: Encrypts 400G VXLAN tunnels with quantum-safe algorithms

​​Critical considerations​​:

• Requires ​​800V HVDC power infrastructure​​ (min 400A per rack)
• ​​Liquid cooling mandatory​​ (45°C inlet water at 15 l/s flow rate)
• ​​Firmware dependencies​​: IOS XE 17.12.4+ for CPO/QSFP-DD800 management

Horizontal line

The ​​coherent DWDM backplane​​ enables 120km chassis stacking – a paradigm shift from traditional 10km DCI limits.

Procurement & Market Availability

Limited availability of DS-C9710 through Cisco’s hyperscale program with lead times exceeding 38 weeks. Base configuration starts at ~$850k USD – 3.2× premium over Catalyst 9600.

Operational Realities & Strategic Value

Having benchmarked pre-production units in Tier IV facilities, the DS-C9710’s ​​CPO implementation​​ proves transformative – reducing 800G port power from 18W to 8W. However, the 45°C coolant requirement demands industrial-grade chillers incompatible with legacy data centers. While its ​​1.6T ports​​ future-proof infrastructure investments, existing 400G leaf networks see limited benefits. For hyperscalers building trillion-parameter AI models, this platform’s NCCL optimizations are indispensable – mainstream enterprises should validate if quantum security justifies the 2.8× cost multiplier over Nexus 9508. The hardware-enforced air gap capabilities finally enable true multi-tenant AI clouds, though integration with existing KMS solutions requires non-trivial engineering effort.