Battle Of The Titans: Cisco And HP Square Off On White-Box Switches, SDN

War Of Words

Tech giants Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard sounded off on Thursday about their different beliefs on white-label switches and software-defined networking (SDN), following the unveiling of a new line of HP-branded open source, white-label network switches.

CRN spoke to several channel partners who said the new HP line could steal away business from Cisco and create serious competition between the two in the switching space.

Cisco CEO John Chambers has not shied away from his disdain for white-label switches. The networking giant went back and forth with HP through CRN email statements, taking a few shots at each other regarding SDN and switching.

Cisco: HP Lacks Innovation And Confidence

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor unveiled the news on Thursday that it will deliver new white-label network switches for the data center in March, which HP said will provide web-scale customers with more choices in open network environments, thanks to partnerships with Accton Technology and Cumulus Networks. HP said the two network switches will enable the 10G/40G spine and 10G leaf data center deployments, while also expanding the line to include 25G/50G/100G switches later this year.

"HP's news brings into question a lack of confidence, traction and innovation with the ProCurve/H3C switching portfolio," said Cisco in an email statement to CRN. "White box" or merchant silicon-based switching is not a new phenomenon ... Cisco seems to be delivering [SDN] solutions at the right time."

HP: Cisco Late To Embrace Silicon And SDN

The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant said it delivers the most widely deployed merchant silicon data center platform with its Nexus 3000 series switches.

HP, however, said Cisco was late to the game while HP was innovating.

"Cisco was seven years late in embracing SDN and often slammed it as irrelevant," said HP in an email statement to CRN. "Cisco was also years late embracing the benefits of merchant silicon while HP led innovation ... HP continues to lead the innovation curve in SDN, merchant silicon and software licensing and we intend to do the same with the solutions we announced [Thursday]."

Cisco: We Own Market, Not HP

"HP has been touting cheap switches for many years -- so if price was the most important point, HP would have 70 percent of the market today," said Cisco. "Eight of the 10 largest Internet companies in the world are Cisco customers."

In 2014, Cisco dominated the network switch market, capturing 66.2 percent market share, compared to 12.4 percent market share from HP, according to market researcher NPD Group, which provides data from technology distributors.

Cisco pointed at last week's second-quarter earnings releases, which showed the hardware products Nexus 3000 and Nexus 9000, as well as the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), growing from 580 customers two quarters ago to 1,700.

HP: Cisco Doesn't Listen To Customers

"In contrast to Cisco, HP is listening to our customers and investing in the future," said HP. "In the face of Cisco's new Cisco ONE [software] licensing scheme, which only aims to solve a Cisco created problem, HP again innovated and delivered full capability with no license needed," HP said.

Cisco unveiled its Cisco ONE software licensing program in late January, which allows customers to purchase Cisco software features and functionality in a new way. The vendor rolled out three software license bundles that cover its data center, WAN and network access software, letting customers buy the bundles as a subscription.

Cisco: We Are The Innovators In SDN And Open Source

"Cisco understands and values open standards and open source, and has been a leader in that arena," said Cisco.

Cisco said its next-generation switches provide an open-standards platform while still maintaining benefits, such as supply-chain flexibility, services and global support.

"Today, Cisco delivers the most widely deployed merchant silicon data center platform with its Nexus 3000 series switches," the networking giant said.

HP: Cisco ACI Approach Against The Industry

Cisco's Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), the vendor's version of SDN, only runs on Cisco equipment, although the vendor said earlier this month that it will be furthering its open-standards approach to ACI and expanding standards-based interoperability for its Nexus 9000 switches.

"Cisco has managed to position its custom and closed ACI approach directly against the industry momentum behind the disaggregation of the network and the adoption of open and standard white box networking solutions," said HP. "[HP] represents a continued recognition of the transition from a custom and closed environment to a new business model that is initially focusing on the web scale market segment. This model demands a true disaggregation of the network, and requires a standard and open switch interface to allow our customers to integrate innovative software defined applications as well as participate in a Dev Ops ecosystem."

Partners' Thoughts On Cisco/HP Switching Market

Some solutions providers have hope for HP's white-label switches, while others don't see any competition for Cisco in the near future.

"This finally gives the channel a serious competitor to Cisco," said an executive solution provider, who has partnerships with both Cisco and HP. "This gives the HP channel an opportunity to start having conversations with CIOs and CEOs on open source as an alternative to Cisco so those customers can get the economics associated with Facebook and Amazon."

"I don't think there will be an immediate impact," said Bill Smeltzer, CTO of Focus Technology Solutions, a Seabrook, N.H.-based Cisco and HP partner. "I think if enterprise and commercial-grade customers really get to a point where they start to adopt these open-type, software-defined networks, I think down the road as the equipment gets older and it's time for a refresh, I definitely think that [white-label switches] could start to weigh in on Cisco."