Cisco lacks innovation, says HP

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Technology giant Hewlett-Packard bets high on its recently introduced FlexNetwork unified range of networking products, and said that Cisco lacks innovation and does not have integration with its acquired companies.

HP has announced the FlexNetwork architecture that facilitates flexibility of IT infrastructure for datacentre, campus and branch locations. The company claims that its new architecture adheres to open standard and is scalable, secure and agile.

The company said that they have successfully integrated all the three acquired companies while its major competitor, Cisco, lacks integration of its acquisitions.

Speaking to CIOL, Subhodeep Bhattacharya, Director, HP Networking said that Cisco market share was down by 3.8 points while HP gained 2.3 points during the previous quarter.

"Cisco has acquired close to 30 companies but are not integrated. It has just one part of the networking," he added.

HP said their value proposition is that they have integrated all the products from the acquired companies which are being managed centrally.

The company has the ability to manage products from 35 manufacturers and supports 2600 devices that include more than 1000 alone from Cisco.

"HP has a different approach and offers software, storage and networking together. We are focussing on overall infrastructure needs of an organization," Bhattacharya said.

The company also claims that they offer solutions lower than the Cisco price.

Acquisition pays

With the acquisition of 3Com and with an amalgamation of H3C and Tipping Point, the company has integrated products in such a fashion that they are available with a single interface.

Through 3Com, the networking major has expanded its portfolio for datacentre. The company has leveraged Tipping Point's expertise for security portfolio and has a focus on Intrusion Prevention.

HP Tipping Point facilitates industry-leading scalable and secure virtual framework for physical and virtual data centres. According to Bhattacharya, the company is growing and expanding at a faster rate during the last four years.

The company said that its FlexNetwork offers various benefits that include agility, scalability and security. Bhattacharya said that it reduces network tiers and devices in both data centre and campus. It has simplified orchestration that enables rapid changes to adopt business needs.

Open approach

HP is of the opinion that the customers are open to buy products from any vendor. "Data needs are changing and we are the first to offer converged solutions with end-to-end portfolio," Bhattacharya said.

He said HP is fulfilling the industry needs through innovation and open standards.

Go-to-market strategy

Bhattacharya said that there is no change in their go-to-market strategy and is focusing on enterprise and SMBs. The company is channel-centric and more than 90 per cent of its business operation is through channel.

"All our products are compatible and can be used along with legacy ones and customers do not need to worry about migration, hence we offer more value to customers," he said.