The C-SM-NIM-ADPT is a dual-NIM carrier card in an SM-X form factor for Catalyst 8300 Series platforms. This module supports a wide variety of NIMs, including the C-NIM Layer 3 WAN modules for the Catalyst 8000 platforms. See Table 6 for a list of supported modules. Since it connects to the backplane with two 10-Gbps links, this carrier card will not impose any bottleneck on traffic, even if two 10-Gbps C-NIM-1X modules are installed. It supports full online insertion and removal. There is no upper limit on the number of C-SM-NIM-ADPT cards that can be installed in a Catalyst 8300 Series platform, other than available SM-X slots.

The Cisco Catalyst 8000 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Modules are based on the technology of the onboard Gigabit Ethernet and SFP/SFP+ ports of the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms. Feature support will therefore be identical to that of the onboard ports on the Catalyst 8300 and 8200 Series and the 8200L.