HP Strengthens Converged Networking Portfolio With Focus On Security
The products are the first from HP in the space since it completed its acquisition of 3Com in April and formed HP Networking, the new group that includes both the 3Com portfolio and HP's former ProCurve products.
Among the new products are the TippingPoint Virtual Controller, or vController, which takes the security coverage from HP's TippingPoint Secure Virtualization Framework and extends it to physical and virtual network traffic via HP's TippingPoint N-Platform Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).
Then there's the TippingPoint S1200 IPS A7500 module, which delivers IPS protection in a blade form factor, and the TippingPoint S1500 SSL appliance, which is for inspecting, de-crypting and re-encrypting SSL Website traffic.
A fourth offering, TippingPoint Reputation Digital Vaccine (RepDV), is a monitoring service that reports on suspicious Web sites and automatically blocks them.
Security assurances at both the physical and virtual layers are fast becoming a key piece of the converged networking puzzle, said Michael Callahan, senior director, worldwide security product marketing, for HP TippingPoint.
Also new from HP is the A5820 data center switch, which is the former 3Com H3C S5820x with a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) module for connecting virtual and physical servers to Ethernet and storage networks.
It's intended to complement HP's Virtual Connect FlexFabric module for BladeSystem, according to HP, and also offer customers migrating to FCoE environments a smoother path to doing so.
"This is an important step down the converged server edge path," said Matt Zanner, director, data center solutions for HP Networking. "We have different options rather than forcing a forklift upgrade that involves the entire infrastructure, as some others in the industry are promoting."
The S1200N starts at $55,000, the S1500 SSL appliance starts at $24,995, and pricing for both the vController and RepDV depends on deployment. All four offerings are currently available, according to HP.
The A5820 switch will be available by the end of summer 2010, and list price starts at $12,499.
Watch for further new product announcements around converged networking from HP, Zanner said.