Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series Replacement — What Cisco Recommends
Cisco support for the Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series ended Apr 2022 — unsupported units need a plan. Cisco's own end-of-life bulletin names the successor below — quoted from the source, with the successor's live support status where EOSL.ai tracks it.
The Cisco-named replacement
per-part mapping in the bulletin (2 replacement parts listed) — named in the Cisco EOL bulletin ↗ as the migration path.
C6800-16P10G is not yet tracked on EOSL.ai — no vendor end-of-life notice has been captured for it, which is typical of current products.
Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series lifecycle dates
| SKU group | End of sale | EOSL / last support | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switch hardware | Apr 2017 | Apr 2022 | bulletin ↗ |
Per-part-number replacement mapping (6)
As listed in the Cisco bulletin's migration table for each part number.
| End-of-life part | Description | Bulletin-listed replacement |
|---|---|---|
| 2D-X6816-10G-2T | C6800-16P10G | |
| WS-X6816-10G | C6800-16P10G | |
| WS-X6816-10G-2T | C6800-16P10G | |
| WS-X6816-10G-2TXL | C6800-16P10G-XL | |
| WS-X6816-10G-XL | C6800-16P10G-XL | |
| WS-X6816-10GE | C6800-16P10G |
Migration questions
What is the replacement for the Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series?
Cisco's end-of-life bulletin names C6800-16P10G as the recommended migration path for the Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series. The exact wording and any per-part-number mapping are in the linked bulletin.
Is the Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series end of life?
Cisco support for the Cisco Catalyst 6816 Series ended Apr 2022 — unsupported units need a plan. Full lifecycle dates by part number: https://eosl.ai/system/cisco-catalyst-6816/.
Is there a per-part-number replacement mapping for the 6816 Series?
Yes — the bulletin maps replacements at the part-number level for 6 SKUs (for example 2D-X6816-10G-2T → C6800-16P10G). The full table is on this page.
Do I have to buy the Cisco-recommended replacement?
No. The bulletin's named successor is Cisco's suggested path, not an obligation. Teams also keep 6816 Series units running under third-party maintenance after the support cutoff, migrate to a different vendor, or run low-criticality units to failure with the risk documented. See the support-options guide for the trade-offs.