Cisco matching ProCurve prices

The rivalry between HP ProCurve and Cisco continues to heat up. According to a leaked email from ProCurve, Cisco has been telling its channel partners to match any price that ProCurve offers.

ProCurve appears to be welcoming this. According to the email, ProCurve will publicize Cisco’s pricing scheme. The rationale? ProCurve figures that as more Cisco customers hear about this tactic, more of them will come to ProCurve for a price quote. At the very least, this will give ProCurve a chance to show Cisco customers what it has to offer. It will also cost Cisco a lot of money, since ProCurve generally offers much lower prices.

So the key takeaway here is - if you’re a Cisco customer and you’re looking to refresh part of your network, go talk to ProCurve and see what kind of price it can offer. Even if you decide to stick with Cisco, you’ll at least have a chance at getting a better price from your incumbent vendor.