HP, Cisco partner on network switches

data centre 'extender' switch for integrating Cisco data centre networking gear with HP BladeSystem environments, CRN reports.

Specifically, the Cisco Fabric Extender for HP BladeSystem will allow enterprise customers to use their HP BladeSystem c-Class infrastructure with Cisco's Unified Fabric. In other words, by using the extender, customers can get more out of joint HP-Cisco environments by configuring Cisco Nexus data centre switches with the HP BladeSystem, instead of having to choose one vendor's data centre products versus the other.

According to DatacentreDynamics, the Nexus B22 Fabric Extender for HP has been jointly developed by both companies, but with their own interests in mind. Both are waking up to the reality that they may not have 100% ownership of the infrastructure in a data centre; that customers these days want choice, and do not want to be forced to entirely redo their architecture with every new release.

HP has its own network fabric architecture, but it wants to protect its blade server business, while Cisco, viewed by HP as the incumbent, according to HP's GM of networking Bethany Mayer, wants to protect its network fabric against not only HP, but also a rising number of vendors pushing fabrics in the networking space today.

According to eWeek, HP and Cisco have become strong competitors since Cisco first introduced its Unified Computing System (UCS) in 2009. The tightly integrated data centre solution not only includes Cisco networking gear, but also Cisco-branded blade servers, putting it in direct competition with other systems makers, including HP and Dell.

Cisco has done well with the UCS, including earlier this year becoming the world's third-largest x86 server vendor, according to IDC. Cisco CEO John Chambers said in August that the company now has more than 7 400 UCS customers.