Fave raves

The fave: HP's HP ProCurve switches

Selected by: Mark Currence, network administrator, PrintingForLess.com, Livingston, Mont.

As an e-commerce company, we move a lot of data on a daily basis, running a 24/7 operation to print brochures, postcards, catalogs and stationery. So we rely heavily on robust, scalable and cost-effective network products and high-performance hardware.

The HP ProCurve line of switches gets my vote as all-time favorite.

Our company built a new facility to house all of our operations and consolidate five separate buildings. We used five models from the ProCurve line when designing the data and voice infrastructure and easily transitioned from a flat network with a mix of connectivity rates to a multitiered, routed network with gigabit connectivity to every desktop. The hardware was very affordable and gave us everything we need.

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Our network mostly comprises HP ProCurve products, with 10Gbps links in the core and 2Gbps trunks to the access layer. We use Power over Ethernet for our VoIP infrastructure, and Cisco hardware for our firewalls, external routers and internal wireless network.

We have had one hardware problem since installation. HP tech-support staff diagnosed the problem and had a replacement in my hands the next morning. Situated in Montana -- far from any major city -- we were very impressed with a turnaround of less than 18 hours.