HP Switches/Routers

kefkef · 10 Jun 2011 at 15:37

Have any of you guys had any experience with HP for Data Centre/Aggregation/Access? Just going through a piece of work and the costs Vs Cisco are in silly street for replacing 4 core switches and access switches for around 200 servers. Wondered what your experience of them are f any? Along with the lifetime warranty they do make a strong case as i can just buy extra units to cover replacements whilst original units are away to be repaired.

(Talking A125XX and A95XX/A75XX series)

kefkef · 13 Jun 2011 at 10:41

Yeah. Just met up with HP, they do seem to have some nice kit, and at a very nice pricepoint. Refreshing 2 main sites with 4 Cores and server connectivity with Cisco can be matched by HP's pricing and include a refresh of all our edge for less than the Cisco Cores!

The least it will do is give me a big stick to beat down some pricing from Cisco!

kefkef · 15 Jun 2011 at 10:17

Yeah, i know all about the 'Get what you pay for'. It's a good stick to beat the Cisco guys with though, i've 'leaked' a little conversation to one of the Cisco UK directors in a round about route that i'm considering it. Strangely enough my internal account manager keeps trying to get in touch for some reason........

kefkef · 15 Jun 2011 at 17:07

brad82 said:
I always see HP as "Will do". You dont get a lot of the features in their hardware as you do with Cisco gear, however if you are only setting up a simple network, HP gear will suit fine - especially if you are on budget.

Like anything I think it really comes down to

1) Do you really need the extra stuff you get with Cisco
2) Can you afford it.

$0.02

It's a decent sized refresh, budget just short of £1m. For that with Cisco i can probably get the Core and server distribution with a few other bits and pieces of work i need doing also. For HP i can get pretty much everything done including 10gb to the edge (currently 100/1000mb), whilst replacing the 250+ edge switches also.

Skidilliplop said:
Cisco have the brand strength in that sector to be able to do that.
By all means try, but don't be suprised when they respond along the lines of "So, what's your point?"

Quite aware of the brand strength Cisco have, but they dont have the dominance they had compared to say 5-10yrs ago. They know in the business i work in that cost is becoming a more important factor for the future.

Next thing you'll tell me they wont do me a decent deal on the price as even though it's their year end in July they arent bothered about securing the business in financial year to up their year end figures.......