HPE R0X44C 48-Port 1G/10G/25G SFP28 Line Card for Aruba CX 6400

The HPE R0X44C is a 48-port SFP28 expansion module for the HPE Aruba networking line, designed to slot into the modular CX 6400 chassis and deliver tri-speed (1G/10G/25G) uplink density where aggregation tiers need it most. If you're building out a spine-leaf data center fabric or a large campus core that has to absorb 25GbE server uplinks without adding another chassis, this module is the unit to spec.

Overview

The R0X44C runs on HPE's Gen7 ASIC architecture with a fully distributed forwarding plane — no central switching fabric bottleneck. The line card carries its own dual-core ARM Cortex-A72 processor and 4 GB DDR4 RAM, which means ACL evaluation, routing table lookups, and analytics processing happen at the card level rather than punting to a shared supervisor. That matters at scale: a saturated supervisor is the silent killer of large modular deployments, and the distributed model eliminates that single point of contention.

Placed inside an enterprise network switch chassis, the R0X44C contributes to a system-level switching capacity of up to 28 Tbps and forwarding throughput of up to 20 Bpps — figures that comfortably absorb wire-rate 25GbE across all 48 ports simultaneously without head-of-line blocking.

Key Features

• 48 Tri-Speed SFP28 Ports (1G/10G/25G): Each port auto-negotiates across all three speeds, so you can connect legacy 1GbE servers, existing 10GbE uplinks, and new 25GbE spine links from a single module. No optic swap needed when you refresh server NICs — the port adapts.
• Gen7 ASIC with Fully Distributed Architecture: Forwarding logic lives on the line card itself, not on a central fabric card. Under heavy multicast or ACL-heavy traffic patterns, you won't see latency spikes caused by supervisor congestion — each card handles its own packet pipeline.
• Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A72 + 4 GB DDR4 per Card: Enough onboard compute to run EVPN/VXLAN control plane, BGP/OSPF route processing, and MACsec key negotiation locally. Useful in multi-tenant environments where per-VRF routing tables grow large.
• 32 MB Shared Packet Buffer: Sized for bursty workloads — backup windows, storage replication, and video surveillance backhaul all produce short burst profiles that overwhelm shallow buffers. 32 MB of shared buffering absorbs those spikes without tail-drop.
• MACsec Encryption Support: Wire-speed Layer 2 encryption on SFP28 links — relevant for healthcare, finance, and government environments where inter-switch links traverse shared or semi-trusted physical paths. MACsec adds no measurable latency penalty at 25GbE.
• VSX (Virtual Switching Extension): Pair two CX 6400 chassis in an active-active VSX stack. Both uplinks carry live traffic simultaneously — no blocked STP port, no failover gap. For a surveillance or access control aggregation layer, this means zero packet loss on a chassis failure.
• EVPN / VXLAN Overlay Support: Extend Layer 2 domains across a routed underlay without stretching VLANs across the WAN. Critical for multi-site enterprise deployments and data center fabrics where VM mobility or distributed storage replication spans racks.
• Dynamic Segmentation: Enforce role-based network policy at the port level without deploying a separate policy appliance. Assign a connected device to a VLAN and ACL profile based on identity — useful for network access control in mixed-device environments like warehouses or healthcare floors.
• Role-Based Access + Layer 7 Application Firewall: Traffic inspection and enforcement at the application layer on a switching line card — not a feature you find on commodity aggregation hardware. Reduces the need for an inline firewall appliance at every closet or IDF.
• Multi-Platform Management: Aruba Central (cloud), AirWave (on-prem), CLI, SNMP, RMON, and the CX mobile app all natively supported. For multi-site deployments, Central provides a single pane of glass without a separate NMS server to maintain.

Integration and Compatibility

The R0X44C is designed exclusively for the HPE Aruba CX 6400 switch series chassis — it will not seat in the CX 6300, CX 8400, or any other platform. Verify chassis slot availability and power supply headroom before ordering: a fully loaded 6400 chassis with multiple high-port-count modules may require redundant power supply modules to stay within power budget.

SFP28 ports accept standard SFP28 (25GbE), SFP+ (10GbE), and SFP (1GbE) optics — both HPE-branded and third-party transceivers, subject to platform compatibility validation. For fiber-heavy runs in data centers or long inter-building links, specify the correct reach optic (SR, LR, ER) separately; the module does not ship with transceivers installed.

BGP, OSPF, EVPN, and VXLAN interoperate with major third-party routing and switching platforms, making this viable in mixed-vendor spine-leaf fabrics. Review your fabric design against HPE's compatibility matrix before deploying EVPN Type-5 routes across vendor boundaries — route advertisement behavior can differ.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the R0X44C compatible with the HPE Aruba CX 6300 or CX 8400 series?

A: No. The R0X44C is designed exclusively for the HPE Aruba CX 6400 switch chassis. It is not compatible with the CX 6300, CX 8400, or other HPE switch families.

Q: Does the R0X44C support MACsec encryption?

A: Yes. MACsec is supported on SFP28 ports, providing wire-speed Layer 2 encryption between switch ports — appropriate for environments where inter-switch links traverse shared or semi-trusted physical infrastructure.

Q: What optic types are supported in the SFP28 ports?

A: The ports are tri-speed SFP28 slots accepting SFP28 (25GbE), SFP+ (10GbE), and SFP (1GbE) transceivers. Optics are not included with the module and must be ordered separately.

Q: What management platforms are supported?

A: The R0X44C supports Aruba Central (cloud-managed), AirWave (on-premises NMS), CLI, SNMP, RMON, Multi-Edit, and the Aruba CX mobile app.

Q: Does this module support VXLAN and EVPN for data center fabric deployments?

A: Yes. Both VXLAN overlay and EVPN control plane are supported, enabling Layer 2 extension across a routed underlay — the standard architecture for modern spine-leaf data center fabrics.

Q: What is the power input requirement for the R0X44C?

A: The module accepts 110–127V and 200–240V AC input, compatible with standard North American and international power infrastructure. Chassis-level power supply capacity must be verified for a fully loaded configuration.

Karl Wilson

I spec the R0X44C into data center aggregation and large campus core deployments where 25GbE server density is climbing and the aggregation tier needs to keep pace without a chassis swap. The Gen7 ASIC's fully distributed forwarding model is the spec I keep coming back to — at 20 Bpps of forwarding throughput, this card doesn't create a bottleneck even when all 48 SFP28 ports are running wire-rate 25GbE simultaneously.

Technical Highlights:

• 48 Tri-Speed SFP28 Ports: Supports 1G, 10G, and 25GbE in the same port — eliminates a forklift upgrade when you refresh server NICs from 10GbE to 25GbE. The optic stays, the cabling stays, the port config updates.
• 4 GB DDR4 per Card (Cortex-A72): Enough onboard memory to maintain large BGP/EVPN route tables and run per-port ACLs without punting to a shared supervisor. In multi-tenant or multi-VRF environments this headroom matters at 100+ connected endpoints per card.
• VSX Active-Active Redundancy: Two CX 6400 chassis in VSX operate both uplinks simultaneously — no STP-blocked port, no sub-second failover gap. For physical security backplane networks (access control, surveillance aggregation), this eliminates the most common single point of failure at the aggregation layer.

Deployment Considerations:

• Verify chassis power supply headroom before ordering multiple R0X44C cards into a single CX 6400 chassis — a fully loaded chassis with high-density SFP28 modules can exceed a single PSU's budget. Order redundant PSUs at the same time.
• Optics are not included. SFP28 SR optics (for intra-rack or short inter-rack runs) and SFP28 LR optics (for inter-building or long-haul links) must be ordered separately and validated against HPE's transceiver compatibility list before deployment.

The R0X44C is the right card for enterprise data center spine-leaf fabrics and large campus cores that are migrating server-facing links from 10GbE to 25GbE — particularly where MACsec encryption on inter-switch links is a compliance requirement and EVPN/VXLAN is already the underlay routing model.