HP ships programmable switches

Firm offers enterprises a credible alternative to Cisco's Catalyst 4500 range

HP's ProCurve Networking arm has launched a range of Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switches, offering UK enterprises a credible alternative to Cisco's Catalyst 4500 product range.

The 5400 and 3500 Layer 3-4 devices are based on a new ProVision application-specific integrated circuit (Asic) developed by HP labs. They cost £76 and £84 per port for 48- and 24-port versions with integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) support. ProCurve vice-president and general manager John McHugh said the application most likely to make it onto the Asic is identity integrity checking, but conceded that appropriate standards must first be decided.

"Predicting the services and applications people will program into this Asic in two to three years' time is a daunting task, but we don't have to know - it's just a question of catering for future requirements," he said.

Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at EuroLan Research, highlighted user-authentication at the edge of the network as a plus point.

"Everybody has invested in intrusion-detection systems [IDS] and packet shaping [appliances] but the important thing is putting security in the right place. Gigabit and PoE are effectively future-proofing," he said.

Figures for the third quarter of 2005 suggest that Cisco cornered a 52 percent share of the managed switch ports sold in Europe. HP ProCurve came a distant second with 17 percent, but finished ahead of nearest rivals 3Com and Nortel who managed 11 percent and five percent.

Jon Wetherall, ProCurve UK country manager, said, "Many IT directors don't really understand the technology, but believe their job is safe if they stay with the market leader. Some are scared to change, but that mentality is altering."