3Com was also further along in development of FibreChannel-over-Ethernet () switches for next-generation data centers unifying compute and storage networks, Haas said. HP had not yet detected a vibrant market for FCoE so it put its priorities elsewhere while entering into an OEM for an FCoE switch.

From there, more detailed conversations between Haas and Sege, and other top-level HP and 3Com executives commenced. And HP began the due diligence process as a prelude to an acquisition offer, and made the commitment to deploy 3Com in its own global network and data centers alongside HP's own gear.

"[HP CIO] Randy Mott is ecstatic about how he can outfit the whole HP next-generation data center with an HP-only architecture," Haas said. "We're going to make sure we become our own best showcase."

And what excites Haas most about the 3Com marriage? Is it the technology? The Chinese market? Or the 2,400 networking-specific engineers in China?

"It's a combination of all of that," he said. "China is a very big [networking] market that we can go after. It's actually a bigger market than the server market and a bigger market than the storage market. So you can imagine how excited we are in coming at it from a position of strength, a differentiated value proposition that customers are asking for right now. That's what makes this exciting. We've got a lot of work to do so we're going to be focused on execution but we really like our position here." And what would Haas say to competitors like ?