The Cisco 1-, 2-, and 4-Port OC-48c/STM-16c POS/RPR SPAs are available on high-end Cisco routing platforms and offers the benefits of network scalability with lower initial costs and easy upgrades. The SPAs continues the Cisco focus on investment protection along with consistent feature support, broad interface availability, and leading-edge technology. The SPAs allow different interfaces (POS, ATM, etc.) to be deployed on the same carrier card.

The Cisco 1-, 2-, and 4-Port OC-48c/STM-16c POS/RPR SPAs use Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) interfaces. SFP modules are available in short-reach (2 km), intermediate-reach (15 km), and long-reach (80 km) optics.

The Cisco 1-, 2-, and 4-Port OC-48c/STM-16c POS and RPR SPAs can be used in multiple applications, including:
- Access and aggregation
- WAN uplinks
- Internet peering

These SPAs feature both packet over SONET/SDH for mesh fiber networks and Resilient Packet Ring for ring fiber topologies. These SPAs comply with the IEEE 802.17 RPR standard and also support the Spatial Reuse Protocol (SRP) for compatibility with existing Dynamic Packet Transport/Resilient Packet Ring (DPT/RPR) networks.