HP Returns to Routers, Aims at Branch Offices

Computerworld - ProCurve Secure Router 7000dl series
Hewlett-Packard Co.
• Product summary: HP's ProCurve networking unit today will expand beyond the switch and wireless LAN access point markets by adding a pair of branch-office routers. The 7102dl has two slots for WAN interface cards and supports up to four T1 connections. The 7203dl has two standard slots and one wide slot for WAN cards and can handle up to 12 T1 connections. The routers each have a compact flash port to allow easy installation of configuration and image files from flash memory, HP said. It added that both machines come with lifetime warranties.
• User experience: Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento, Calif., is testing the 7203dl and has ordered four that will be used in elementary schools for WAN connections, said Dan Clinton, network administrator for the 60,000-student district. In all, the district may order 40 of the routers, one for each of its elementary schools, which are connected to the school system's metropolitan-area network via T1 lines. The HP gear will replace routers from Nortel Networks Ltd., Clinton said, adding that Nortel's current products are too expensive. The school district also evaluated routers from Cisco Systems Inc. but found them too pricey as well. "Plus, you get a lifetime warranty from HP, and the warranties from Cisco are killing us," costing up to 20% of a device's purchase price annually, Clinton said. Elk Grove has used HP's switches and other products in the LAN that supports its central administration for four years.
Clinton praised the company's technology and customer service, but he said he hopes that the ProCurve division will get a development boost following this month's ouster of Carly Fiorina as HP's CEO. "I see it as a positive move that she's gone," he said.
• Analyst assessment: The announcement of the 7000dl series signals HP's re-entry into the router market, which it exited in the late 1990s, said Nick Lippis, an analyst at Lippis Consulting in Hingham, Mass.
Lippis said that the new routers are priced at about half the list price of comparable devices from Cisco and that HP's lifetime warranty will be "huge" in terms of attracting customer attention.
• Other vendors in this market: Cisco, Nortel and numerous smaller companies
• Price: The 7203dl has a list price of $7,985. HP didn't disclose the cost of the 7102dl.
• Availability: The routers are due to ship in April.

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