HP, Alcatel-Lucent Grow Networking Alliance

Hewlett-Packard and Alcatel-Lucent will leverage networking equipment from each vendor to develop solutions for enterprises and service providers looking to build infrastructures in distributed cloud environments.

The two companies announced the deal Dec. 3 from the HP Discover 2014 show in Barcelona, Spain. As part of the alliance, Alcatel-Lucent will incorporate some of its IP routing and optical networking products into HP’s routing and storage offerings, which officials said will help customers build networks that are simpler and more agile than the ones they have.

The vendors will take “each other’s best-in-class flagship products from our respective IT and networking portfolios to deliver a unique set of data center and network solutions that reduce complexity, lower [operating expenses] and boost agility to accelerate innovation of new products and services,” Antonio Neri, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s Enterprise Group, said in a statement.

The steps the vendors make will include HP extending its storage capabilities between data centers. HP and Alcatel-Lucent have certified long-distance synchronous, low-latency replication using HP’s 3Par RemoteCopy technology over distances of up to 130 kilometers, which will give service providers and enterprises enhanced business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. The solution includes HP’s 3Par StoreServ, RemoteCopy and StoreFabric storage networking products, and Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 PSS optical offerings.

In addition, HP Networking will grow its WAN router lineup for larger organizations by incorporating some Alcatel-Lucent carrier-grade routers. HP will begin shipping the Alcatel-Lucent routers in the second quarter of 2015.

The announcement is expanding an alliance between the two companies that began in 2009. Alcatel-Lucent has since adopted HP IT technologies and supply chain, and recently joined HP’s Early Access Forum for its Helion cloud computing strategy. In addition, the two have partnered on innovations around mobility and cloud computing.

HP also has helped Alcatel-Lucent with its own IT transformation efforts, including providing infrastructure and services, including helping Alcatel-Lucent move applications to the cloud and the trimming down of the number of applications and data center sites Alcatel-Lucent runs.