* HP improves its standing in Gartner’s eyes
We all know that Cisco dominates LANs, as it has for years. But there are innovations afoot that are creating opportunities for other players in this market, and we may see some interesting changes in 2005.
Gartner last month issued its “Magic Quadrant” report for this market, which of course places Cisco up and to the right, all alone in the “Leaders” square. Everyone else is clustered down in the “Niche Players” and “Visionaries” quadrants.
The one exception – the one big change in the past year – is HP, which has managed to get a fingertip hold on the edge of the “Challengers” square. This is the place for companies that have a decent ability to execute but lack the vision of the Leaders and Visionaries.
Report author Mark Fabbi says HP’s ProCurve group “has a growing and increasingly strong product portfolio; combined with the power of HP’s brand, it will appeal to a broader number of enterprise customers.”
Price is a reason to go with HP, Fabbi says, as the company’s gear has been 70% less expensive than competitors’ gear. He says HP “clearly articulates its goals for the networking division” and has “an aggressive road map to add features.”
“Although not yet applicable for every enterprise network, HP’s ProCurve solution meets the needs of at least 80% of enterprise networks,” the report says. “Enterprises investing in campus LANs where the largest site is less than 5,000 nodes must have HP on their shortlist.”
I’ll share more from Gartner’s report in the next issue.
