Business white paper
Unify your
campus LAN
access layer
HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Table of contents
3 Who should read this paper?
3 Executive summary
3 Campus LAN wiring closets are changing
4 HP wired switches for Unified Wired and Wireless Access
7 HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Solution
8 The HP advantage/Conclusion
8 For more information
Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Who should read this paper?
If you are a CTO, CIO, IT manager, or business manager interested in the business advantages of
HP switches for unified wired and wireless access, this paper will describe the key advantages of
HP switches within a campus unified access layer.
Executive summary
The role of switches in the wiring closet has changed from basic data paths to direct more
sophisticated converged infrastructure activities, as well as to unify network service
applications such as cloud computing. This is due to a change in the buying behavior at the
edge of the network, which has limited IT resources, increased mobility requirements, and
reduced IT budgets.1 While wireless solutions are becoming more prevalent at the access layer
of the network, in order to successfully support these new initiatives, wired switches are still a
key requirement.
Legacy switches cannot provide the key functionality to keep up with these changes.
They cannot adequately handle the types of applications demanded by users today, such
as rich media, social media, and unified communications and collaboration (UC&C). Legacy
networks are at a breaking point. They are prohibiting your organization from a new
simplified architecture that will allow you to manage and support your network infrastructure
at a low TCO.
This white paper describes the key trends in the market place that are driving changes in the
functionality of switches in the access layer, and it explains how to keep up with these trends
while keeping your network up and running.
Finally, this white paper describes the HP switching solutions that help unify the campus LAN
access layer and what key functionality they bring to your campus access.
Campus LAN wiring closets are changing
Wiring closets in the enterprise LAN are going through a transition. With the addition of wireless
access points (APs) and BYOD (bring your own device) in the network as well as the beginnings
of software-defined networks, switches are still the critical element in ensuring the network is
working at its optimal level.
Network intelligence and services have shifted toward network access and policy enforcement,
integrated security, WLAN access, unified communications, enabling power management,
network management, and performance to support real-time applications and much more.
There are more and more demands today for switching features that provide multiple
functionality, such as data and power, network access and service, and the flexibility to easily
grow as your network infrastructure and business grows. The following factors play a key role
in switch considerations for the access layer:
BYOD movement—While BYOD gives employees the flexibility to use their personally owned
devices to access corporate data, it presents many challenges; including security (how can you
enforce corporate security on an employee’s smartphone?) and capacity (can your wireless
infrastructure cope with the influx of traffic from new mobile devices?).
Role provisioning and guest access—If you are bringing new devices onto the network for the
first time whether for employees or guests, you need a flexible approach that supports an array
of company, employee, and guest-owned devices—one that enables users to onboard quickly
and easily, with minimal imposition to your help desk.
“A Unified Access Layer Forces Changes to
Infrastructure Thinking at the Edge of the
Network,” Tim Zimmerman, Mark Fabbi, Gartner,
March 2012. gartner.com/technology/reprints.
do?id=1-1ALFBA3&ct=120521&st=sb
1
Security—The sophisticated malicious attacks on networks, operating systems, and
applications continues to rise, and one small misstep can result in theft of private corporate
data, tarnish the corporate brand, and risk regulatory non-compliance. You must secure more
applications and operating systems with the user and within the campus.
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Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Manageability and serviceability—Network management cannot just control one aspect
of the network today. Instead, management services must be able to cover both wired and
wireless environments.
Performance—With explosive growth in mobility and increased adoption of cloud computing,
unified communications and collaboration services, along with a change in consumer behavior,
your organization will have to change how it thinks about IT today. Wireless LANs are hitting
near gigabit speed so switches need to have the performance to keep up with these new
devices and applications. Legacy networks struggle to scale and meet the changing demands
of different applications, different ways of delivery, and the control needed to ensure quality of
the service. At the same time, you need to spend less time and money managing the network in
order to focus on innovation. The wired solution you choose is a critical component to how your
applications are delivered and perceived by your customers.
Power provisioning and management—As wireless devices are becoming more prevalent
in the workplace, additional power is required for these APs. In many cases where APs are
placed, there is no available power outlet, so utilizing Power over Ethernet (PoE) based on the
IEEE 802.3af or 802.3at standard is a convenient means of proving power.
Ease of integration/Support for industry standards—With open, standards-based
solutions, you can migrate your network from legacy architectures to advanced flexible
architectures so they can meet contemporary business challenges including cloud
computing, high-performance mobile access, unified communications multimedia, and video.
Organizations can choose best-in-class solutions that will meet their business needs. Using
open, industry‑ standard protocol implementations mitigate the risk and cost of change when
the network needs to adapt to new business requirements. And, using open standards‑based
networks will make it simpler for you to move your applications to public and private
cloud services.
Port density and scalability—Wiring closets have limited space and in many cases space is
becoming a precious commodity. The maximum number of ports is important to be able to
obtain per rack unit in order to adequately support your growth projections. Flexibility in how
you deploy these network devices is also a key consideration when deploying your network.
Applications—Communications, interaction, and engagement are the backbone of your
organization’s day-to-day activities. With UC&C, organizations can accomplish more with fewer
people and tighter budgets, support flexible work styles and lower cost from streamlined
communications.
HP wired switches for Unified Wired and Wireless Access
When legacy networks are pushed to the limit, they become fragile, difficult to manage,
vulnerable, and expensive to operate. Businesses whose networks are at this breaking point
risk missing the next wave of opportunities such as BYOD and UC&C. HP Networking has a
variety of switches that help meet your needs that support various network environments.
These switches have features that provide high performance availability, fault tolerance,
redundancy, scalability, security, and energy efficiency and can all be managed our
single‑pane‑of-glass management software, HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC).
Industry Standards—HP wired switches enable you to build modular, heterogeneous flat
networks with interoperable multivendor components that extend wireless and wired networks
that are integrated, secure, and easier to manage. HP wired switches give you a solution that
adapts to your business conditions and enables new ways to connect. The HP Networking
portfolio is built on industry standards. You benefit from the open, standards-based approach
that provides your business scalability, security, agility and a consistent user experience with
low TCO.
1G and 10G—With switches that provide 1G access and 10G uplinks, your network will have
decreased bottlenecks, which are often the result of users taxing the network by accessing
bandwidth-hogging applications, such as streaming video. HP has switch series help to alleviate
this problem by providing 1 GB connections to client devices and up to 10 GB to the core.
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Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Layer 2/3 functionality—HP Wired Switches have the resiliency, scalability and layer 2 and
layer 3 functionality needed to support migration from the traditional three-tier networking
model to a consolidated two-tier model based on a single collapsed tier for L2/L3 distribution
and access switching. The benefits of a single layer of aggregation within the wiring closet
include reduced switch count, simplified traffic flow patterns, elimination of potential layer 2
loops and STP scalability issues, and improved reliability.
Figure 1. HP optimized 2-tier architecture
HP Optimized
Core
Access
IRF or meshed stacking
Aggregated link
Power over Ethernet—PoE provides convenience, cost savings, and in some cases, solutions
that could be difficult to provide power to any other way. An example of convenience is that
clients can be placed wherever they are needed without having to have power close by—just
the wired Ethernet connection. The most obvious client type that can take advantage of this is
the wireless access point. The AP can be situated for best radio signal characteristics, or hiding
it in the overhead plenum ceiling without concern for pulling AC power to one or multiple AP
locations. Another key benefit is cost savings. Getting power to areas that are not typically
served by power can greatly reduce installation cost. AC power circuits require electricians and
breaker boxes. Providing power through the Ethernet cable avoids all of this. Should you need
to relocate APs if necessary is also much easier. Finally, PoE enables easy installation of other
powered devices. For example, building infrastructure devices, such as network-controlled
door locks, or security cameras, would be difficult to install without PoE power. Many of these
solutions would be more difficult to install and more costly with little flexibility of location
updates/changes without PoE.
QoS and bandwidth management—Advanced QoS features in HP switches ensure that
users have the optimal experience, even when using time-sensitive voice, video, and other
rich‑media applications.
Also, sFlow provides clear visibility into the usage and active routes of both wired and wireless
connections, and integrated support for sFlow across HP Networking portfolio means higher
performance and a more cost-effective solution. HP sFlow gives your insight into metrics, such
as top talkers, top applications, and network connections, on wired and wireless networks.
Network monitoring and troubleshooting is simplified with a unified access layer, and support
for sFlow is essential for gaining visibility into the unified network.
Redundant components—Some HP wired switches have redundant hardware components
such as power supplies and fans. These components can be “hot swapped” when they fail
without affecting the network traffic. Advanced chassis switches offer redundant fabric and
management modules that provide nonstop switching/routing if one of the modules fails.
Advanced features such as In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) are typically deployed in the
network distribution and core devices to minimize downtime.
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Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Energy efficiency—Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) is a physical-layer standard that reduces
network power consumption by disabling transmit logic when there are idle periods. The key
to achieving the benefits of EEE is when port traffic is underutilized. EEE does not require any
management software. When two EEE devices are connected, you start realizing the energy
savings right away.
Depending on traffic patterns and idle periods, power savings can be fairly substantial because
chip power consumption is second only to Packet Processing silicon. And because EEE is an
inter-network vs. an internal power-saving mechanism, power savings are achieved on both the
receiver and the transmitter switch. The periods of power saving enablement are controlled by
a standard link protocol negotiated on both sides of a link. Thus, the energy savings are in real
time and can be realized across the connected network devices.
Security—Identity-based access ensures that the appropriate security and policies are applied
consistently, whether the user connects through a wired or wireless LAN. Advanced QoS
ensures that users have the optimal experience, even when using time‑sensitive voice, video,
and other rich-media applications.
With our wired switches, you can enforce the controls you need while giving users the freedom
to use the devices they want. Many of the HP switch products fully support 802.1x access
control as well as Mac-Address Failure Redirect (MAFR) that allows for Simple Network Access
Control (SNAC), a simpler way to support BYOD. Devices are authenticated and authorized
before accessing the network, thus reducing vulnerabilities and security breaches.
Stacking and modular functionality—HP Networking has varied modular and fixed-port,
stackable switches to help meet your needs.
Modular switches often provide maximum flexibility and investment protection. They offer a
host of interface modules that usually see at least two or three upgrade cycles over a period of
seven to 10 years. Modular switches usually offer much better backplane performance than a
stack of switches. They usually have better power utilization on a per port basis than a stack of
switches. Since the switch management is isolated from the I/O modules, an I/O failure has no
impact on either the switch performance or on the rest of the ports in the chassis.
If you want the flexibility of a stackable solution, there is a set of switch virtualization
technologies that allow enterprises to dramatically simplify the design and operations of your
campus fixed-port networks. HP stacking technologies essentially “flatten” campus networks,
helping to eliminate the need for a dedicated aggregation layer. It provides direct, higher
capacity connections between users and network resources. It allows enterprises to overcome
the limitations of legacy design and inefficient protocols by delivering new levels of higher
network performance and resiliency.
HP switch virtualization technologies extend the performance and scalability benefits of
modular, chassis-based switches to both modular and stackable switches. No longer do you
need to compromise enterprise capabilities for the convenience and cost of a stackable switch.
HP switch virtualization technologies, including HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) and
HP Mesh, are included across a variety of our campus switches.
Manageability with HP IMC—HP IMC Enterprise Edition is a standalone, comprehensive
management platform that delivers next-generation, integrated, modular network
management capabilities that efficiently meet the needs of advanced, heterogeneous
enterprise networks. This application provides wired and wireless network management
integrated with system management that is aware of wired components, role provisioning
and guest access administration, policy enforcement, and supports HP and over 6000 non-HP
devices.
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Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
Application integration—The HP AllianceONE Partner Program is focused on enabling you to
deliver proven networking solutions with enhanced security features for your customers. HP
AllianceONE offers you the confidence that the joint solution will work and be supported—while
providing application choice. This confidence is provided through selected channel partners,
HP support, and HP AllianceONE Networking solution certifications. HP Networking channel
partners who are qualified in both HP and alliance partners products provide support services
for the combined solution.
Lifetime warranty—All HP Networking switches that are part of the HP Unified Wired and
Wireless Access Solution are backed by the HP lifetime warranty with next-business day
advance replacement and free software updates and phone support. Lifetime warranty from
HP with free 8x5 phone support drastically reduces your cost of ownership.
HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Solution
We offer a comprehensive portfolio of campus access technologies that allow businesses to
deliver high-performance, reliable network services to growing numbers of mobile users. With
guest and BYOD access, consistent policy enforcement, and single-pane-of-glass management,
HP unified access solutions deliver a clear advantage over standalone wired or WLAN solutions.
Figure 2. HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Solution
Unified access
and policy enforcement
Seamless wired/wireless
Unified Wired and
user experience and
Wireless
Management
secure BYOD access
Network
sFlow & NTA
UAM/EAD
MSM-802.11n access points
RF planner
Optimized energy saving
Benefits:
•Single-pane-of-glass management with HP IMC simplifies network management and delivers
consistent security for wired and wireless networks
•Unified access and policy control associated with a user’s identity provides consistent guest
and BYOD access, user authentication, policy enforcement, and user management across
wired or wireless networks
•Integrated 802.11n WLAN controller modules for HP modular switching platforms save you
real estate space and provide redundancy for always on network access and can support up to
800 APs
•Dedicated mobility controllers are also available to deliver flexibility and choice
•EEE, IMC power saving policies, and other power saving features help decrease your total
energy spend
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Business white paper | HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Switches
The HP advantage/Conclusion
Networks are going through a transition because of converged applications, BYOD, UC&C as
well as new styles of data applications such as cloud computing. In the face of these changes
and the resulting increase in application complexity, the challenge will be to make future-proof
investments in the LAN infrastructure that will improve its availability and stability while also
simplifying the task of administering and managing a network that supports a wider range
of traffic types and edge devices. HP wired switches for the access layer have been designed
to provide resiliency, scalability and flexibility to support the highest levels of availability,
performance, and simplified management.
For more information
To read more about HP Unified Wired and Wireless Access Solution, go to
hp.com/networking/unified-access.
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© Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only
warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein
should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
4AA4-4873ENW, January 2013