HP also has a history of forced lock-in. Their switches specifically prevent you from using third-party SFPs. Imagine if they did this with the wireless APs--purposely make them not work with non-HP ethernet switches.
On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 09:47:52PM +0000, Williams, Matthew wrote: > I've heard from multiple CIOs that they don't want a "converged campus" > solution. They don't want to end up beholden to a single vendor for > financial and security reasons. They want best-of-breed products that > provide the most bang for the buck without the caveats of, "Well if you want > that that feature then you'll have to buy this > appliance/plugin/thing-a-ma-bob, too." > > I find the potential merger a bit disappointing because Aruba was a wireless > company (with a few switches) and that's what they did. I'd hate to see them > end up getting lost in the shuffle of HP's portfolio of solutions. > Hopefully, if this all goes through, that won't happen. > > Respectfully, > > Matthew Williams > IT Manager, Wireless > Kent State University > Office: (330) 672-7246 > Mobile: (330) 469-0445 > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Thomas Carter > Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 4:33 PM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] HP is reportedly trying to buy Aruba Networks > > Yes, edge switches, but HP can sell the whole campus from firewalls to > routers to core switches to APs to software (clearpass, airwave, etc) to > truly compete with the likes of Cisco. They're pushing the "converged campus" > to sound like a marketing wonk. Whether or not they screw it up is what we'll > have to wait and see. > > Thomas Carter > Network and Operations Manager > Austin College > 903-813-2564 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Frank Sweetser > Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 2:44 PM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] HP is reportedly trying to buy Aruba Networks > > On 02/26/2015 02:23 PM, Thomas Carter wrote: > > I kept telling our Dell reps that Dell needs to buy into wireless and > > grab Aerohive or Ruckus. They would just mention the Aruba deal; we'll > > see what happens with that. > > > > I do think this can be good for Aruba. I see it as this - Cisco is a > > company that does $50B revenue annually and spends $6B in R&D. I know > > that's not all wireless, but Aruba has $725M annual revenue with $170M > > R&D. They need the financial backing to stay in second and maybe close > > the gap on Cisco. If integrated well, HP could have a compelling > > package with ProCurve and Aruba all managed under AirWave with some magic > > SDN sprinkled in there somewhere. > > But Aruba already has their own package with their MAS switches! > > My biggest fear is that HP is buying Aruba the wireless company, not Aruba > the client access company. This would lead them to keeping the APs and > controllers, while putting all of the rest of the goodies that let us to > selecting them (Clearpass, Airwave's cross vendor capabilities, their > switches) in jeopardy of either being tossed outright or left hanging around > atrophying. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
