HP eyes Cisco network switch market

Hewlett Packard (HP), in a bid to woo customers of its rivals, is offering its network switches at lower rates for users whose Cisco products will expire in 2011.

Under the 'Catalyst for Change' plan, customers exchanging their Cisco Catalyst switches for HP's A-Series and E-Series ones will get a discount of up to 20%.

HP is hoping to win over some of Cisco's $9-billion (£5.8bn) networking product market through the scheme, which is being promoted in partnership with AdviseX.

Marc Sarazin, executive VP of sales and marketing at AdviseX said in a statement: "Not only is a huge volume of Cisco gear reaching end of life, we saw a lot of customers put off scheduled network upgrades when the economy slowed down, so there's pent up demand there, too."

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