A few weeks ago, Sreeram Krishnamachari, Global Product Line Manager at HP Networking, authored a post on the HP Networking blog entitled “Say goodbye to firmware licenses in wired network switch products”.
In that article, HP has acknowledged, finally, that firmware licenses — in addition to easily adding tens of thousands of dollars in CAPEX costs to a project — are a huge pain in the ass for network managers.
For various reasons, HP has decided to do away with these so-called “premium licenses” and simply ship their products with the premium licenses built-in. This change took place late last year and anyone ordering any of those new switches automatically receives the additional features (which I’ve described previously).
This is great news if you’re planning to purchase any of these switches (or have done so in the last year). CDW sells the premium licenses for $2,333.99 (for the 5400zl series), so I can’t argue with that at all — it’s a huge cost savings, no doubt.
Shortly after the announcement, I reached out to HP via Twitter, asking how the announcement affects existing customers who already have an installed base of these switches. “Can we get free ‘premium’ licenses?”, I asked.
Someone named Robert left a comment on the HP blog post asking the same thing:
So for those of us that own 5400 or 3500 series switches, will you be providing us with a premium license? Based on point number 3 from your blog, we should have said NO to these switches.
The responses Robert and I received were pretty much the same — some bullshit answer (probably crafted by the PR department) about how, “legally”, they couldn’t do that.
In other words, screw the existing customers — go spend a couple thousand dollars a piece and you can get the same basic features that other vendors (and, now, even HP) include in their products for free. Or, you know, order some of these new HP 10500 or HP 3800 series switches and they’ll throw ‘em in at no charge.
Sadly, this is indicative of what I’ve seen from HP over the last several years. Years ago, in a previous life, we had some of their wireless gear that the sales guys pitched as being the most awesome stuff ever.
Then, they bought Colubris.
All of a sudden, the tone from the sales guys changed. No longer was the gear we had any good. As a matter of fact, it was quite lousy… but the new Colubris stuff was just great and we should upgrade to that instead!
We didn’t, but that’s beside the point.
The same thing happened again after the acquisition of H3C. That Colubris wireless gear that was just so damn great? Well, “it’s okay”, but you should upgrade to the new H3C gear; it’s badass!
That shit gets old real quick, but that isn’t stopping HP.
What I took away from HP’s response to myself and Robert was a similar message. They’re not going to give existing switch owners (like my previous employer, who spent a few hundred grand on the HP 5400zl series switches) a free upgrade to the premium features (since that might keep them from buying new gear), but “when you buy any of these new switches from us, all the firmware features are already enabled”.
If HP has any interest in keeping their existing customers, they should consider making the premium licenses available for free — or, at the least, an extremely discounted price — as an act of appreciation and goodwill.
Don’t hold your breath, though.
NOTE: I left my previous job in May and, fortunately, I haven’t had to touch a piece of HP Networking gear since. I really hate to continue to shit on HP (I really do), but it’s so easy to do with some of the decisions they make. On a side note, the problems with the installed HP gear at my previous employer continue to this day (failing hardware, random reboots, etc.).
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Apple had the same issue with FaceTime last year. They couldn’t “give” it to their old customers because of some silly revenue recognition rules. They could give it away in new computers, though. Their solution? Sell FaceTime in the App Store for $.99. A marginal cost to be fair, but it sidestepped the rules and allowed their customer base to get a new product.
If HP really wants to earn some trust or goodwill with their existing customers, they should offer premium licenses for their products for $1.00. You still recognize revenue in the period that it was earned, and you allow your loyal customer base to get an upgrade for (next to) nothing.
At the very least, this will help stem the tide of “Oh, our new X product is the best ever!” by showing that they still believe in their old platforms for the time being.
Hi Jeremy, Thanks for the
blog. We appreciate all the feedback we receive as it provides us means to
improve (and this response is from Sreeram, not PR). I believe the
focus here should be on the paradigm shift HP as a company is enabling in
firmware licensing where we are leading the charge to change something that’s
been a massive pain point for customers not just of HP, but industry wide. HP
has a loyal installed base and their needs are of highest importance to us. And
to that end, we are doing what’s required for our customers on an account by
account basis. Technology maintains a frantic pace and to provide the most
ideal solution for customer will always remain the driving force for us.
If you give away the license at no cost to existing 5400 customers that did not buy a license, what would you pay customers that already bought the license…?
The idea of you and Tom to sell it for a low price or even 1$ will solve this dilemma, offering existing premium edge license customers a voucher worth 1$. This will also take care of some legal stuff that you have to deal with in the US.
A while ago, we also stepped into the “Motorola/Symbol-OEM wireless stuff is great and then Colubris stuff is great” trap, but actually I doubt that the HP guys know which product will survive: H3C or Colubris or even a mixture of both?! But you also have to admit, that Cisco did the same, e.g. with Aironet followed by Airspace… I think vendors that buy other vendors to gain market share or new technology have to act like this as you can see in history of most of the vendors, including your praised Cisco.
In reference to your NOTE: I also suffer from a few installations of HP stuff I did, but this is only a small amount of my customers (except Colubris projects ;-)). If HP networking equipment was not suitable for a certain project I did not recommend and sell it to that customer. On the other hand in the last months I migrated many Cisco and Nortel based networks to H3C/HP without a pain…
Hmm, I wonder, *hypothetically* if your under-warranty HP 5400zl series switch (with a standard licence) were to suffer high voltage and die, would the replacement ship with the premium licence pre-installed? That would be a free upgrade.
Unfortunately, HP even isn’t able to replace a “new” 5400zl switch with another 5400zl switch including a installed license…