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HP's new switch blades take on rivals

By Sean Michael Kerner on September 16, 2009 3:47 PM

From the 'Sharp Edged Networking Gear' files:

HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced a new line of blade switches for its c-class BladeSystems. The new switches (switch blades if you will) are called the HP ProCurve 6120 series and includes the ProCurve 6120XG Blade Switch (pic above left) which is a 10 GbE switch that can give networking connectivity for up to 16 blade servers.

What's interesting about this news isn't so much about the fact that there are new blade switches for HP's Bladesystem, but that the new switches are actually from HP.

"Today HP does offer blade switches from other vendors to support different customer use models," Matt Zanner, HP ProCurve director of data center solutions told InternetNews.com. "What's different is this the first time the two business units (HP and HP ProCurve) have combined forces to have a more tightly integrated solution set that ties into all the management layers as well as bring into the c class all of the elements of ProCurve."

That is really the critical news from my point of view.

For years, HP has not fully integrated its ProCurve networking gear more directly into its HP hardware systems. That's no longer the case.

With Cisco now in the server space, with its Unified Computing System (UCS), offering an integrated networking and server solution, HP has little choice. It's no longer enough just to have a blade chassis without full network integration.

HP ProCurve has all kinds of interesting and powerful management and security features baked into its networking gear that I've written about over the last few years. With ProCurve switches as part of the BladeSystem those features will now be further utilized.

Cost which is a huge issue in today's economy is a key benefit stressed by HP about the new blade switches.

"The majority of the benefits are on the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) side," Zanner said. "But stay tuned this is just chapter one of many to come."

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