The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches offer a variety of 10 Gigabit and Gigabit Ethernet modules that work in conjunction with the new Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine 2T/2TXL to serve different needs in the campus and data center for enterprise, commercial, and service provider customers. The modules in this family include the new 6800 Series 16-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Module, 16-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Copper Module, 48-port Gigabit Ethernet Copper Module, 48-port Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Module, and 24-port Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Module.

The 10 Gigabit Fiber Module supports 10GBASE-CX4, -SR, -LRM, -LX4, -LR, -ZR, and -ER X2 fiber modules to provide operational distances of up to 80 km over single-mode fiber. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet Copper Module supports RJ-45 connectors and an operational distance of up to 55 m over Category 6 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) copper cabling; 100 meters over Category 6 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) copper cabling; 100 meters over Category 6A UTP and STP copper cabling; and 100 meters over Category 7 STP copper cabling. Similarly, the Gigabit Ethernet Copper Module supports RJ-45 connectors and provides an operational distance of up to 100 meters over Category 5, 5E, and 6 UTP copper cabling. The Gigabit Fiber Modules support pluggable optics and provide operational distances of up to 80 km over single-mode fiber and over multimode fiber.