Senior Vice President Marius Haas delivered the opening keynote address at Interop this week, the first time an official from HP or HP ProCurve has done so, Haas said. HP also has one of the largest exhibition booths at the show, housing a full, life-size Halo virtual conferencing room.

The opportunity has perhaps never been better for HP ProCurve. The company has been making substantial market share gains in Ethernet switching over the past couple of years to become the behind Cisco. At the same time, rivals such as Nortel have been struggling with bankruptcy and restructuring, including engaging in negotiations to sell the company in whole or in parts.

Indeed, observers view HP's $180 million, four-year deal to integrate products with Microsoft for unified communications and collaboration opportunities as a replacement of and its with Microsoft.

Couple these events with a poor economy prompting companies to consider alternatives in an effort to reduce cost, and it's no wonder HP is crowing.

"Users are saying their networks are overly complicated, proprietary, expensive, and they are held hostage with no choices," Haas said during his keynote address. "There's no reason there can't be change driven by industry standards that puts customers back in control. There needs to be a catalyst though, with the willpower to make that change in the industry. HP is going to be that driving force. We will change the game and change the rules."