HP to bolster ProCurve switch family

HP ProCurve is expected to launch several new wiring closet, LAN aggregation, and core switch products this week targeted at organizations requiring combinations of Gigabit, Power over Ethernet, and switch-based traffic management and security features.

The ProCurve Switch 5400 switch chassis and Switch 3500 stackable switch include triple-speed Ethernet ports and PoE, as well as new network processors that let the devices operate faster when running services such as QoS, network access control, or other policy-enforcing actions.

The 4200 switch chassis, a basic Layer 2 LAN edge switch, also is being introduced for deploying lots of wiring closet ports with basic connectivity at a low price, with $90 Gigabit ports and $50 10/100Mbps ports.

For aggregation and core switching, HP ProCurve is launching the 6200 switch, a Layer 3 box with 24 interchangeable ports for copper, fiber, or a mix of wiring types. A four-port 10G Ethernet module can be added to the device.

The 5400 and 3500 switches support 10/100/1000Mbps, or triple-speed connectivity, on each port, as well as basic Layer 3 switching features. A software upgrade to the switches lets them fully route traffic with protocols such as Open Shortest Path First, Routing Information Protocol and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol for traffic redundancy.

The switches also include new ASIC chips, dubbed ProVision ASICs, that combine several features, previously supported in software on ProCurve software, into a hardware processor. Among these features is HP’s Virus Throttling technology, which lets switches identify network packet flow patterns associated with virus traffic and reduce that bandwidth to prevent flooding the network with potentially harmful traffic.

Also built into the ProVision chips is the ability to apply individual security controls (such as access control lists or QoS settings) to as many as 32 individual machines connecting to the network from a single LAN port. (This could involve multiple wireless LAN clients accessing a wired LAN through an access point attached to a port.)

The switches also support HP’s Identity Driven Management software, which lets users configure network access and user policies from a central application, and use LAN switches to enforce security policies on PCs and laptops connecting to the LAN.

While ProCurve switches could offer these features in the past, “bringing those features into hardware allows for much faster performance,” says Matthias Machowinski, research director at Infonetics Research.

To aggregate traffic from switches at the LAN edge, HP ProCurve is offering its 6200 switch, also built on the new ProVision ASIC. The device includes 24 small-form-factor-pluggable (SFP) ports that can accept single-port modules — copper or several versions of fiber — supporting 100/1000Mbps.

A slot in the rear of the device can be fitted with a four-port SFP 10 Gigabit Ethernet module, with port inserts for long- or short-run fiber, or short-run CX-4 copper connections.

HP ProCurve is offering the 4200 switch for users interested in basic connectivity and low cost. The fixed-configuration switch includes 72 10/100Mbps ports in a box measuring four rack units (7 inches) in height. Two slots are available for adding as many as 48 more 10/100Mbps ports, 32 Gigabit Ethernet copper ports or 12 ports of 100Mbps FX fiber connections.

HP ProCurve is targeting its 5400 series as a competitive product to Cisco’s Catalyst 4500 and 4900, while the ProCurve Switch 3500 is aimed at Cisco’s Catalyst 3750 series switch. The 5400 and 3500 compete with small chassis switches and stackables from 3Com, Extreme Networks, Force10, Foundry Networks and Nortel.