The Cisco Nexus 3164Q Switch is an ultra-high density, power efficient, 10/40-Gbps switch designed for the data center. This compact, two-Rack-Unit (2RU) model offers wire-rate Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching on all ports. It runs the enhanced version of the Cisco^® NX-OS Software operating system, that also supports Nexus 9000 series switches. It provides customer comprehensive features while simplifying image management. The rich programmability features enable organizations to run today’s applications while also being prepared for the demanding and changing application needs such as big data, cloud, and virtualization.

The Cisco Nexus 3164Q (Figure 1) is a 40-Gbps Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP)-based switch with 64 Enhanced QSFP (QSFP+) ports. Each QSFP+ port can operate in native 40-Gbps or 4 x 10-Gbps mode, up to a maximum of 256 10G ports.