HP Takes Off the Gloves in Data Center Networks

| Sep 18, 2009 | Enterprise Network Systems | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Paula Musich

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: Moderate

Event Summary

September 16, 2009 – HP announced its first blade switches for the HP BladeSystem Chassis with the new ProCurve 6120 series switches, along with new switches in the ProCurve 8200 switch line and additional enhancements to its HP Virtual Connect portfolio.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on HP’s launch of the first blade switches for the HP BladeSystem, because it is the clearest indicator to date that HP intends to be a serious player in the data center switching market. The new HP ProCurve 6120 series Blade Switches, which include a 10 Gbps Ethernet switch and a 1 Gbps Ethernet with 10 Gbps uplinks, represent HP’s taking off the gloves to go after its former partner Cisco in the data center. It fills in a key missing element in HP’s data center offerings, which had previously been filled by Cisco. HP now offers servers, storage, management and services, and is now one step closer to providing the networking required for a single “throat to choke” in the data center.

• Vendor Importance: High to HP’s ProCurve networking business, because it further validates ProCurve’s importance to HP’s overall business, and gives it new ammunition to take into the data center network. That validation started late last year when ProCurve was brought under HP’s Technology Solutions Group, after years of being treated as the redheaded stepchild. Although ProCurve was already a strong number two behind Cisco in the networking market, that was due largely to its strength in selling to SMBs. This move into blade switching will allow it to compete for networking business among large enterprises and service providers, where it has not been strong.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the data center switching market, because it is still largely dominated by the very formidable Cisco, which these new blade switches will have to unseat. HP until now offered Cisco Catalyst 3000 series blade switches for its BladeSystem chassis and it will take some time for HP to demonstrate it can offer significant value over Cisco, whose technology large enterprises are comfortable using.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Enterprise Network Systems | More information
| Client access - Full report in Data Center | More information

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Cisco should put more resources behind management of its data center networking technology, where it has kept more of an arm’s length stance with reliance on third-party products. Cisco is at a disadvantage when it comes to automated provisioning, a la HP’s Data Center Connection Manager.

• Even as HP moves away from its reliance on Cisco’s 3000 series blade switches for the BladeSystem, Cisco should not leave existing customers hanging when it comes to support of their installed blade switches. Customers have long memories when it comes to feeling jilted by a vendor they have relied on, and Cisco can’t afford to give data center customers another reason to go with ProCurve. Besides that, any large customer will force the vendors they rely on to play nicely together.

• Smaller vendors in the blade switching market such as Blade Networks should look to be acquired as a large behemoth such as HP enters the market and seeks a dominant position.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Data center networking customers seeking blade switches for their HP BladeSystem now have a very serious alternative to Cisco and should consider evaluating the 6120 series blade switches. Especially where price and flexibility are issues, HP offers a healthy alternative.

• Customers who are anxious to take advantage of the emerging CEE and FCoE standards to converge storage and server networks in the data center should closely question HP on when it intends to fully support those standards. Cisco claims it is there already, while HP says only that the switches are “architecturally ready” to support those protocols.

• Customers who are evaluating Cisco’s early support of those standards should be careful that the existing support will align with the final standards. It’s always dicey going with pre-standard technology if it is too far out in front of stable proposals.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Enterprise Network Systems | More information
| Client access - Full report in Data Center | More information

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