HP ProCurve ONE alliance partner spotlight: InMon
The HP ProCurve Open Network Ecosystem (
ProCurve ONE) multi-vendor alliance program is designed to optimize the performance of enterprise-class applications with HP ProCurve infrastructure.
Joining the HP ProCurve ONE alliance program at its outset was InMon Corp., an innovative provider of traffic monitoring and network visibility solutions. We spoke with Peter Phaal, President and Co-founder, to provide some background on InMon and its role as an HP ProCurve ONE alliance partner.
Who is InMon and what do you do?
InMon’s mission is to provide customers with network-wide visibility and control, following the adage that you can’t control what you can’t see. Visibility into network resources helps organizations improve service, reduce costs, and defend against security threats.
To achieve this goal, InMon developed the sFlow standard for monitoring traffic in switched networks. InMon works with leading switch vendors to include sFlow monitoring in their products and to deliver sFlow-enabled solutions to their customers.
Building sFlow monitoring into switches is half of the solution. The other half is the software that brings the information together and turns it into actionable intelligence. You can see what network resources are being used, how, and by whom, then use the software management tools to more effectively fine-tune your security, quality of service (QoS), access control, and other management capabilities.
sFlow technology also can be used to better manage the servers on your network. You can see if any servers have been compromised or discover dependencies if, for example, you plan to move certain servers to a branch office or consolidate previously separate server-based operations.
Because our products leverage capabilities that are built into the switches, we are able to provide compelling value: We offer advanced capabilities that are unmatched, but at a fraction of the price of competing solutions.
That sounds almost too good to be true. Do you ever have trouble persuading customers you can deliver what you promise?
Customers are often skeptical, but once they try our products and get used to the control that network visibility provides, they don’t want to go back to managing the old way. To make sFlow technology accessible to everyone, InMon offers a free way to experience the power of network visibility through our sFlowTrend tool.
What kinds of organizations use InMon’s products?
Our products provide value to anyone who has a network, regardless of the size or type of organization. Visibility into network activity allows you to achieve whatever business and IT goals you have set. You have a direct measure of how well you are doing now, plus information that will enable you to do better.
InMon offers products that address the full spectrum of customer needs and price points, ranging from our free sFlowTrend product, which provides point-and-click monitoring of a single switch, through to our flagship Traffic Sentinel product, with the enterprise-class features needed to monitor the largest corporate data centers and campus networks.
Have you worked with HP ProCurve in the past?
InMon has a long history of partnership with HP ProCurve. HP was one of the first vendors to adopt sFlow technology (circa 2001), and the ProVision ASIC in ProCurve switches provides a wire-speed implementation of sFlow technology. sFlow monitoring is now built into the full range of HP ProCurve products, ranging from core data center switches to low-cost access switches.
In addition, InMon and HP jointly developed the wireless sFlow standard that is implemented in ProCurve wireless access points. In fact, HP ProCurve was the first to implement wireless sFlow technology in a commercially available product.
From InMon’s perspective, what are the biggest advantages of the HP ProCurve ONE program – and how is ProCurve ONE different from other networking vendor partner programs?
The HP ProCurve ONE Services zl Module allows HP ProCurve and InMon to deliver a combined solution, providing an easy-to-use appliance delivering advanced traffic management capabilities directly to the network administrator – without the need for additional servers and their associated maintenance.
The combined InMon/HP ProCurve solution enhances ProCurve’s Adaptive Network vision, unlocking the powerful capabilities already built into ProCurve switches to provide network-wide visibility and precise control of network resources.
The ProCurve ONE program helps customers by bringing together on the ProCurve Web site the information and resources that customers need. You can easily download solution guides and software, find joint resellers, and obtain support. ProCurve ONE establishes cohesiveness on the support level as well as from a technology perspective, giving you a single entity to deal with, as well as the full range of multi-vendor options from which to choose.
What can customers expect to see as a result of the InMon/HP ProCurve collaboration under the HP ProCurve ONE alliance program?
Our Traffic Sentinel product is available now on the HP ProCurve ONE Services zl Module. It’s a solution that has been tested and certified to work with ProCurve switches.
We continue to work with HP ProCurve to enhance the capabilities of our joint solutions. We recently released Traffic Sentinel 4.0, a version that includes a new traffic control module providing closed-loop control of traffic in a ProCurve network. We have found that customers are excited by the ability to manage the bandwidth used by peer-to-peer applications on their networks.
Through the ProCurve ONE alliance, we are working with HP ProCurve to raise awareness about the powerful visibility capabilities already built into the network. sFlow technology, an intrinsic value offered in ProCurve switches, is currently one of HP’s best-kept secrets. We believe it is a capability that every customer should be aware of and try out.
We are working to make the benefits of network visibility accessible to all ProCurve customers. That is one of the reasons we created the free sFlowTrend tool. Anyone with a ProCurve switch can download the application from sFlowTrend.com. Within minutes, you can enjoy the visibility into network activity that your HP ProCurve switches can provide.
Want to know more?
