Hewlett-Packard has lifted the curtain on the ProCurve Switch 8212zl, a high-performance network core switch that HP says completes its ProCurve product portfolio.Aimed at the enterprise, the 8212zl is the successor to the 5400zl switch family and, as HP’s first core switch offering based on its ProVision ASIC technology, completes HP’s ProCurve core-to-edge network solution portfolio, which is designed to unify network technology, infrastructure, software, operation management and support while reducing complexity and cost.
Darren Hamilton, partner business manager for ProCurve Networking at HP Canada, said the new switch completes HP’s core to edge story.
“It’s a brand new foray for us into the core switch marketplace,” said Hamilton. “Although that’s not a new segment for us, this is a brand new product into that segment and it’s the first time we’ve really been able to apply the ProCurve value proposition around a core switch.”
That value proposition includes a life time warranty with next business day advance replacement. It also includes common accessories and switch software across the portfolio as well as common device modules and management to make implementation easier for partners.
“The learning-curve is not steep by any means; it’s a look and feel they’re used to,” said Hamilton. “Many of our partners can hit the ground running with this relatively quickly because they’re already intimately familiar with the 5400, which has the same software-set, functionality and features.”
HP describes the 8212zl as a high-performance, highly scaleable chassis core switch platform, with Layer 2 through Layer 4 features, advanced security, and high-density Gigabit and 10GbE connectivity.
“We’ve developed this as a core solution from the ground-up; this is not about trying to add or bolt-on to existing solutions and package it for the core,” said Hamilton. “It’s a core solution with all of the redundancy features that demands.”
HP has also announced the availability of its ProCurve Wireless Edge Services zl Module, which integrates into the 8212zl core switch and 5400zl Series Intelligent Edge switch chassis, to offer advanced wireless services and management unifying wired and wireless operations.
“Rather than having six individually-managed access points in a customer’s environment, this allows a partner to create a centralized management of wireless devices from a single pane of glass,” said Hamilton, adding it addresses management and access security, two major barriers to wireless adoption.
The 8212zl base system is priced by HP at US$23,000, while the Wireless Edge Services zl Module is priced at US$5,499. Both are available now. Hamilton said however that when it comes to the core it’s the feature set, not the price, which is the prime consideration.
“Nobody gets brownie-points for saving a couple of dollars in the core,” said Hamilton.
“Where the partner best demonstrates their value is by providing a highly-available, high performance core to their customers. If it happens to be a better value that’s often the tipping-point, but its not the core consideration when making core purchases.”
He added HP is actively recruiting partners with proven high expertise around deployment, wireless and convergence capabilities.
“While we’ve already been in recruit mode, now we’ve got an even better portfolio to round-out what they’re selling and what they’re offering to their customers,” said Hamilton.
