Dean Darwin knows how to play an encore. Back at F5 Networks for the second time as channel chief, Darwin today described an expanded F5 relationship with Hewlett-Packard’s ProCurve ONE team. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

According to a joint F5-HP press release:

Translation: F5 and HP are partnering to… yada, yada, yada … be an application-centric alternative to Cisco switches.

The Bigger Story

Actually, HP’s ProCurve ONE program is part of a larger ‘Anything But Cisco’ initiative featuring Microsoft, Avaya, McAfee, F5 and Riverbed, Aastra, AirTight Networks, Ekahau, InMon, .vantronix and VBrick. But the kind folks at F5 dialed The VAR Guy, so they’re the ones getting all the ink in this blog entry.

Darwin (pictured, left) notes F5’s application-centric systems are designed to improve the performance of Exchange Server, SharePoint, CRM Dynamics and other Microsoft applications.

As the old saying goes: CIOs buy applications, not networks. “We’re the glue between the network and the application,” asserts Darwin. “And we’re covering all seven layers with HP.”

Economic Bumps

During 2008, The VAR Guy identified F5 as one of the networking industry’s up-and-coming players. But F5 has hit a few bumps; the company is cutting roughly 120 employees amid a quarterly sales shortfall in North America.

Darwin rejoined F5 Networks late last year as channel chief, replacing Steve Hale (now at Novell, working side-by-side with Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon). Darwin says HP and F5 channel partners should expect to see joint promotional and training activities starting immediately.

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