Cisco's Catalyst 2960X-48LPS-L offers 48 Gigabit access ports drawing on a 370 W PoE budget, with 4 SFP uplink slots at 1 Gbps and the LAN Base image in a 1RU chassis. It occupies the low-power, Gigabit-uplink corner of the 2960-X product matrix, and it comfortably earns its place there, principally because a closet full of desk telephones rarely approaches the larger budget.
Where 370 W lands on a 48-port front panel
The shared pool is 370 W and it is drawn on demand rather than reserved. Cisco's figures for this model give 12 ports at the full 30 W an IEEE 802.3at PoE+ endpoint may take, and 24 ports at the 15.4 W ceiling of standard PoE. A telephone drawing 7 W leaves the switch able to power far more than 24 devices in practice, which is why the summed class draw, not the port count and not the headline maximum, is the number to plan against.
The useful way to frame it is by device type. A floor of telephones will never trouble this budget. A floor of modern wireless access points will exhaust it before a dozen are connected. A mixed floor of telephones plus a handful of cameras sits comfortably inside it. Those three cases cover most real deployments and they are decided before the order, not after.
| Specification | Catalyst 2960X-48LPS-L |
|---|---|
| Access ports | 48 x 10/100/1000 Ethernet |
| PoE budget | 370 W combined |
| Ports at the 30 W PoE+ ceiling | 12 |
| Ports at the 15.4 W PoE ceiling | 24 |
| Uplinks | 4 x SFP, 1 Gbps |
| Software image | LAN Base |
| Forwarding bandwidth | 108 Gbps |
| Switching bandwidth | 216 Gbps |
| Active VLANs | 1023 |
| Stacking | FlexStack-Plus, 80 Gbps, 8 members |
| Rack height | 1RU, 1.75 in |
Four Gigabit uplinks on a 48-port chassis
Four SFP slots at 1 Gbps give 4 Gbps of aggregate uplink behind 48 Gigabit access ports. That is a high oversubscription ratio on paper, and it is entirely normal for an access closet whose endpoints are telephones and desktops. The value of four slots here is that they can be split across two distribution switches in pairs, so the closet keeps a working path through the failure of a fibre, a transceiver or an upstream chassis.
Where the closet aggregates other switches, serves file workloads or carries wireless backhaul, the SFP+ variant of this model is the better specification and the uplink question should be settled before the chassis is chosen. Changing uplink media afterwards means changing the switch, because the slot type is fixed in the chassis and no adapter converts an SFP cage into an SFP+ one.
The generational step: 20 Gbps to 80 Gbps of stack fabric
FlexStack-Plus on the 2960-X runs at 80 Gbps across up to eight members, against the 20 Gbps and smaller stacks of the FlexStack fabric on the previous 2960-S generation. That fourfold increase is the clearest single argument for the newer generation on an otherwise similar 48-port PoE front panel, and it comes alongside the VLAN ceiling rising from 255 to 1023.
Backward compatibility is supported in one direction: a 2960-X LAN Base switch with a FlexStack-Plus module stacks with a 2960-S or 2960-SF LAN Base switch fitted with a FlexStack module, at 40 Gbps with a four-member limit. A 2960-XR will not stack with it at all.
Where the 48LPS-L sits in the 2960-X range
Two comparisons frame this model: the full-budget switch with the same uplinks, and the data-only switch with the same uplinks. Between them they show that the entire 48-port Gigabit-uplink ladder is a power decision.
| Model | PoE budget | Ports at 15.4 W | Uplinks | Stack bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2960X-48LPS-L | 370 W | 24 | 4 x SFP, 1 Gbps | 80 Gbps |
| 2960X-48FPS-L | 740 W | 48 | 4 x SFP, 1 Gbps | 80 Gbps |
| 2960X-48TS-L | None | None | 4 x SFP, 1 Gbps | 80 Gbps |
Where all 48 ports need power, the Catalyst 2960X-48FPS-L is the model with the budget and is otherwise the same switch. The Catalyst 2960S-48FPS-L is the previous generation and is the right answer only when matching an installed 2960-S stack. The current-generation equivalent is a Catalyst 9300 48-port model.
Lifecycle and support horizon
This model is named in Cisco end-of-life notice EOL13603 for the Catalyst 2960-X product family. End-of-Sale for the hardware was 31 October 2022 and the Last Ship Date was 30 January 2023, with End of Software Maintenance on 31 October 2023. The Last Date of Support and End of Vulnerability and Security Support both fall on 31 October 2027, and End of Service Contract Renewal is 29 January 2027.
Cisco continuing to support hardware it has stopped selling is precisely the window in which refurbished buying makes sense, and this generation sits squarely inside it. Sites replacing a failed 2960-S with this model also gain the larger VLAN ceiling and the faster stack fabric without changing the shape of the closet.
Condition, testing and what ships
Units are refurbished enterprise hardware carrying the original Cisco part number. Each is tested inbound on receipt, then disassembled, cleaned, inventoried and held in stock; at order time it is assembled, configured to specification and bench tested again immediately before packing. Whole systems including this switch carry the 2-year Enterasource warranty, with free FedEx Ground delivery to the lower 48 states.
SFP transceivers, FlexStack-Plus modules and stacking cables are quoted separately unless specified with the chassis. Cisco software entitlement does not transfer with used hardware.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many telephones will a Catalyst 2960X-48LPS-L power?
Far more than the headline figures suggest. The published maximums are 12 ports at the 30 W PoE+ ceiling and 24 at the 15.4 W standard PoE ceiling, but a desk telephone typically draws 6 to 10 W, so a 370 W pool will commonly power an entire 48-port floor of them with headroom left. Total the actual class draws rather than reading the maximums as a device count.
What does the S in 2960X-48LPS-L denote?
The uplink type. A trailing S across the 2960-X sub-series marks 4 SFP slots fixed at 1 Gbps, while a trailing D marks 2 SFP+ slots that run at either 1 or 10 Gbps. The letters before it carry the power budget, where LP is the 370 W pool, FP is 740 W and T is a data-only chassis with no Power over Ethernet at all.
How much faster is 2960-X stacking than 2960-S stacking?
Four times. FlexStack-Plus on the 2960-X runs at 80 Gbps across up to eight members, where FlexStack on the 2960-S runs at 20 Gbps. The active VLAN ceiling also rises from 255 to 1023 between the two generations. Those two changes together are the strongest technical reason to choose the newer generation on a comparable front panel.
Will a 2960X-48LPS-L work in an existing 2960-S stack?
Yes, provided every member carries the LAN Base image and the correct stacking module, because FlexStack-Plus is backward compatible with FlexStack. The mixed stack runs at 40 Gbps with a maximum of four members rather than 80 Gbps with eight. Stacking with a 2960-XR is not supported in either direction under any configuration.
How is a used 2960X-48LPS-L checked before sale?
The chassis is bench tested when it arrives, then stripped, cleaned and inventoried into stock as a known-good unit. On sale it is rebuilt to the ordered configuration, powered up, configured and tested again with the PoE stage and all four SFP slots exercised before packing. Physical condition is graded per serial and disclosed on that listing. The rest of the range is on the Cisco networking hardware page.
