Making network management decisions? Why haste makes waste.

[#1]

By Kevin Secino, HP Networking

In my grade school days, my teachers use to say “haste makes waste.” You know the saying...

I can relate to this when making purchasing decisions based on “I’ve always done it this way” or not giving too much consideration to what technology I am adding to my network. I could be missing out on an opportunity to improve my network performance, along with reducing my network complexity.

Considering wired and wireless management tools? Consider HP.

I know I always look for new ways, new ideas that could make my life easier as well as improve my clients wired and wireless network experience. So pause for just a moment and consider the options that are out there in today’s competitive world to make network management efforts simpler.

With other vendor's multiple wired and wireless management tools and proprietary technology, I would certainly expect to reduce this complexity and streamline network administration. I would look to this as an excellent opportunity to work with the largest IT provider in the world to help reduce networking costs and simplify network operations.

Before any decision is made to purchase your next wired or wireless solution, consider HP’s FlexNetwork architecture, designed to provide a single management platform for both wired and wireless networks.

Did I mention that HP has one of the highest-performing, highest-density Access point family in the industry. In my last blog, I wrote about HP’s MSM460/466 Access point family offering one of the most flexible mobility architectures in the industry.

Look for flexible distribution choices: don’t wall yourself in with vendor lock-in

 

Whether you’re an all HP customer or not, consider HP’s mobility optimized architecture. As part of HP FlexNetwork Architecture, it is an integral part of the mobility controllers HP offers and can easily co-exist with legacy architectures. Industry analysts are saying that clients that don't segment their network infrastructure will see higher costs and increased vendor lock-in.

Layered network considerations

Once the appropriate building blocks have been defined, the most important technical consideration is to ensure that no proprietary or other forced linkages between the building blocks. Networking emerged as a set of layered technologies for a reason: Different functions are required, and a layered architecture ensures innovation, choice and an ability to meet various business requirements.

Within building blocks, it is acceptable to use proprietary technologies, as long as organizations compare vendors against their requirements and maintain sufficient ROI against potential lock-in costs. It is important to make the needed functionality a requirement, rather than making a specific proprietary technology a requirement. That keeps alternatives open and allows more choice.

Remember, “Haste does make waste.” So why not see what HP has to offer  before you make your next networking decision?

>> Blog: Where our customers win in today’s competitive networking arena
>> Blog: Nothing has changed for management for some vendors

>> Blog: Questions you should be asking about network management

>> SearchNetworking.com: Cisco Catalyst 6500 upgrade leaves classic users behind: So what?

>> Before replacing existing Cisco switches & routers with more of the same Pause and consider this
>> Learn more about HP Networking products and solutions for the Instant-On Enterprise

         

[#2]

Dear Kevin, Thanks a lot for your article. I'm very happy HP stepped into the field of wireless networking. Recently, I received a URL from a colleague with an article on various wireless solutions in a real-world test with a lot of empirical data. Have you read William van Winkle's article below? http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wi-fi-performance,2985.html what do you think about the results? and how will HP develop it's wireless technology in the next years? Thank you so much. Best regards, Jelmer de Reus

[#3]

Hi Jelmer de Reus,

First, thank you for your message and  yes I did see the article and also listened to Ruckus’s Webinar with Tom’s Hardware just last week.  I must say that this is the first time I ever head of Tom’s Hardware.   

The good news from this test is that HP came in higher than all the other vendors, Aruba, Cisco, etc.  However, HPN disputes the results of this ungrounded test of the MSM460.

Before we get into details on how the MSM460 compares to Ruckus and why these results are inaccurate, I first question the credibility of the company that conducted the testing.  Tom’s Hardware? Anybody know who they are?    

Its important to note that the testing that was conducted by Tom’s Hardware was using  an older version of the MSM460, that had an FRS software issue.  The current version V5.5.1 would definitely provide much different results.

Tolly just released a performance test on HP’s MSM460/466 AP Family, which compared Cisco and another popular WLAN vendor. One of the tests included running HD Video from multiple clients, in each of the tests HP came out on top with the best performance and highest density.  HP did reach out to Tolly to conduct this test and its common practice of Tolly to give the vendor that is in the test the opportunity to comment prior to the report’s circulation, none of the vendors that were asked provided any commentary. Please note that Tom’s Hardware never reached out to HP.  Here is  the Tolly test results: http://tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=211122

As far as the future of HP’s mobility solutions are concerned, HP Networking is committed to continue its aggressive market efforts, mobility is a very  important business to HP Networking and our team continues to provide innovative solutions for our customers.  I encourage you to keep current on HP Networking new product announcements as these are very exciting times for HP and our customers.

Sincerely,

Kevin