ProCurve, a division of parent company HP, has steadily built a major presence in the enterprise networking space but still stands a distant second to industry leader Cisco in terms of overall market share. Addressing a key gap in its portfolio, network solutions for the data center, the vendor has entered an alliance with several best-of-breed application vendors that centers on a new services module for its chassis switch platforms. IT leaders evaluating a near term network upgrade should assess the infrastructure consolidation and cost savings opportunities presented by this approach.
The HP ProCurve ONE Alliance
Launched in January 2009, the HP ProCurve Open Network Ecosystem (ONE) alliance includes a number of leading data center application partners that have worked with HP to formally certify their solutions for ProCurve network deployments. In addition to their conventional modes of delivery, however, these partners will also now offer their respective applications via the new HP ProCurve ONE Services zl Module, an Intel x86-based module designed for the vendor's 5400zl Series and 8200zl Series chassis-based switches.