HP ProCurve will unveil this week its first switches built specifically for datacenter 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 datacenter server racks, is broadening the role of its ProCurve networking arm in those compute-intensive environments just as Cisco is about to step into the datacenter server fray. Cisco's 'California' blade servers, which will reportedly integrate switching, application processing, and virtualization in a single platform, are expected late in the second quarter.
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The release of California also is expected to strain relations between Cisco and HP (and also IBM), which previously have collaborated on complementary datacenter 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 datacenter 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 datacenter 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.
The 6600 24-G-4XG has 24 1Gbps RJ-45 ports, four 1Gbps SFP ports and four 10Gbps SFP+ interfaces. It has a switching capacity of 101Gbps and a throughput of 74 million packets/sec.
The 6600-48G features 48 1Gbps RJ-45 ports, four 1Gbps SFP ports, a 96Gbps switch fabric, and throughput of 72 million packets/sec. The 6600-48G-4XG has four 10Gbps SFP+ ports instead of the four 1Gbps SFP interfaces. It has a switching capacity of 152Gbps and a throughput of 131 million packets/sec.
The 6600 24-XG has 24 10Gbps SFP+ ports, a switching capacity of 336Gbps and a throughput of 214 million packets/sec.
HP ProCurve also is unveiling a management application designed to provide automated, policy-based provisioning of network and server resources. The ProCurve Data Center Connection Manager coordinates common datacenter workflow activities, helps ease compliance and troubleshooting, and works with multivendor servers and networks, HP says.
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