The first product in the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series is the Cisco Nexus 2148T Fabric Extender (Figure 4). A Cisco Nexus 2148T connected to a Nexus 5000 Series system acts as a single managed entity, with the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series system providing the supervisory functions of the control plane and the Cisco Nexus 2148T inheriting the characteristics of connected Cisco Nexus 5000 Series ports. The Cisco Nexus 2148T supports the following features:

- Operation as a remote I/O module, extending the internal fabric of the Cisco Nexus 5010 and 5020 Switches for low-cost port-count expansion.
- Zero-touch provisioning, including configuration and upgrade.
- 48 Gigabit Ethernet server access ports with RJ-45 connectors.
- Four 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports using SFP+ short-reach (SR) and long-reach (LR) optical or CX1 direct-attach copper interconnects.
- Compact 1RU form factor.
- Front-to-back cooling compatible with data center hot-aisle and cold-aisle designs, with all switch ports at the rear of the unit in close proximity to server ports.
- 1+1 redundant, hot-pluggable, dual-sensing power supplies.
- Hot-swappable fan trays.
- All user-serviceable components accessible from the front panel.