HP ProCurve, the networking business of global technology leader HP, aims to consolidate its position on the African continent through sustained training, stronger alliance partnerships and lifetime networking solutions, says Netsayi Mutizhe, Business Development Manager for HP ProCurve in Southern and East Africa.
“In South Africa, ProCurve is number two, behind Cisco. The landscape is pretty much the same worldwide. We are still maintaining that position. Our main goal is to close the gap between us and the number one, CISCO”, Mutizhe told itnewsafrica.com.
The company will strategically focus on increasing training for its partners and the continuous development of non-restrictive, open standards for its complete networking solutions, comprising of switching, routing to storage and maintenance.
“We look after the end customer, the resellers and distribution partners. What we found was that we lacked a skilled base where partners will able to deliver and support the customer, so we spend a lot of money training our partners. Between 2008 and 2009 we had a certification increase of about 183% and for 2010 we are hoping to increase that by 2% to 10%”, explains Mutizhe.
ProCurve partners normally attend courses for 3-4 days, after which they have to write a certification exam. This is necessary to ensure a better understanding of HP ProCurve and its offerings to the customers.
“Because ProCurve is built on open standards, we offer the customer the flexibility to choose the best of breed in bringing their solutions together. We give them the platform, they can plug in whatever they want on top. We strive to meet the business needs of the customer as opposed to dictating how it should work”, continues HP ProCurve’s official.
HP networking division relies on customized, non-restrictive, flexible and user-friendly solutions based on HP Open One Architecture, which allows for better returns on IT investment and reduced complexity when operating.
ProCurve works with any third party software and hardware and provides support in partnership with trusted and tested applications and network providers such as Microsoft and McAfee, to name a few.
HP ProCurve is the networking business of HP, recently integrated in its Enterprises Business that comprises of enterprise storage, services and now networking for educational, financial institutions, construction industry amongst others.
HP’s biggest markets on the continent are Botswana, Namibia and Mauritius in the South and Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in East Africa, according to Mutizhe.
by Denisa Oosthuizen
Best of breed means huge operational costs..what happen in case of problem in my network, I don’t think HP will support my Cisco firewall..
Second to Cisco in marketshare?
Cisco has 80% – HP has 5% – more like last place to me