The Cisco StackWise-480 technology is based on the successful StackWise technology, which is a premium stacking architecture. The StackWise-480 has a stacking bandwidth of 480 Gbps. It uses Cisco IOS Software SSO to provide resilience within the stack. The stack operates as a management unit controlled by an "active" switch elected by the members. The active switch automatically elects a backup switch within the stack. The active switch creates and updates all switching/routing/wireless information and continuously synchronizes this information with the backup switch. In the event of a failure of the active switch, the backup takes over the role of the active and maintains the operation of the stack.

Today's switches can accept new members or remove old ones without service interruption. The StackWise-480 creates an extremely resilient single system of up to nine switches, providing simple management using a single IP address, a single Telnet session, a single CLI, automatic version control, automatic upgrade, automatic configuration, and more. It also enables local switching on Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series switches.