"The 4- and 8-port Cisco EtherSwitch ® 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet EHWICs are Power over Ethernet (PoE)-capable integrated EHWIC switches for the Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2) routers. The Cisco Gigabit Ethernet EHWICs have either four or eight 10/100/1000 switched Gigabit Ethernet ports, with options for PoE support on all ports. The cards provide line-rate Layer 2 switching across the Gigabit Ethernet ports, using Cisco IOS ® Software embedded in Cisco Catalyst ® switches.
For the remainder of this document, the Cisco 4- and 8-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet EHWICs are referred to as Cisco EtherSwitch EHWICs or EHWIC switches where applicable.
Features such as port autosensing, IEEE 802.1p, quality of service (QoS), VLAN trunking with 802.1Q, and 802.1d Spanning Tree Protocol are standard on the EHWIC switch. The PoE version of the EHWIC switch can power IEEE 802.3af-compliant devices such as Cisco IP Phones, Cisco wireless access points, or any other device with a power draw of up to 20W.
The EHWIC switches enable Cisco's industry-leading power initiatives, Cisco EnergyWise, Cisco Enhanced Power over Ethernet (ePoE), and per-port PoE power monitoring."