HP readies for Cisco's data center assault

26.01.2009
this week will unveil its first switches built specifically for data center applications, as well as a server module for existing switches that enables users to begin integrating and consolidating switching and application processing.

HP, a fixture for decades in data center server racks, is broadening the role of its ProCurve networking arm in those compute-intensive environments just as is about to step into the data center server fray. Cisco's which will reportedly integrate switching, application processing and virtualization in a single platform, are expected late in the second quarter.

The release of California also is expected to strain relations between Cisco and HP (and also ), which previously have collaborated on complementary data center opportunities for networking and servers.

"This is clearly a demonstration of HP really taking ProCurve in the enterprise and leveraging other HP strengths," says Jon Oltsik, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "HP's certainly in the data center business and for the first time ever they're talking about handling all communications, too. HP is looking at where it can succeed in the enterprise networking market and picking its battles strategically."

HP's weapons for this battle include a new 1RU switch line optimized for top-of-rack data center switching applications. The 6600 line includes five 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, available in a variety of configurations.

The 6600 24-G sports 24 1Gbps RJ-45 ports and four 1Gbps SFP ports. It has a 48Gbps switch fabric and a throughput of 36 million packets/sec.