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Communications and Technology Industry Research
Industry Research Featured Article

August 27, 2007

Infonetics Studies Show Cisco Dominating Router and Switch Markets


Customers are consistently rating Cisco (News - Alert) the highest overall on a number of criteria, such as technology, roadmap, security, management, and service/support. Such information was confirmed in two studies by Infonetics, one of enterprise routers, the about Ethernet switches.




Cisco is beginning to face some stiff competition, however. This year’s research is showing ProCurve Networking (News - Alert) by HP closing in the Ethernet switch arena, proving to be Cisco’s biggest challenger.

The switch study, User Plans for Ethernet Switches: North American Vertical Markets 2007, published by Infonetics Research, revealed that ProCurve for the first time outscores Cisco in customer ratings on price-to-performance, and the gap between their service and support ratings is closing.

"Cisco continues to dominate the router and switch markets, but on the switching side, ProCurve buyer perceptions have improved across the board compared to last year, which explains why they're now a solid second on respondents' vendor short list," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research, in a statement.

Infonetics' router study, User Plans for Routers: North American Vertical Markets 2007, indicates that no such competitor has emerged as of yet to challenge Cisco on its dominance in the router market.

"Juniper comes close, but doesn't yet score higher than Cisco in any of the router criteria we pose in the study, which is key to moving up on respondents' short lists. The companies we interviewed are medium and large size companies, and run large networks, so understandably they're not keen on swapping out vendors. If they do, there must be a very compelling reason," Machowinski added.

The study also highlights other top performers in these fields. Respondents to the router study rate Juniper second overall, giving the company high marks for technology, security and product roadmap. 3Com proved to earn the highest marks among router respondents for pricing.

Switch respondents favored Dell (News - Alert) third overall, giving the company high marks for financial stability, pricing, and service and support. The study also indicated that the top applications driving respondents to invest in new router and switch technology are corporate data, security and the Internet.

Both of these Infonetics’ studies examine the purchase plans of medium and large organizations deploying routers and Ethernet switches in five vertical markets, including education, federal government, finance, healthcare and manufacturing.

Each study takes an in-depth look at perceptions of leading manufacturers and products, how organizations select and evaluate manufacturers, reasons for switching to new manufacturers, and the drivers for deploying new technology.

As these studies examine the performance of these companies from the customer’s perspective, each manufacturer can gain significant insight from the results. And, although there is conflicting data as to whether or not Cisco is being challenged for its top spot, such information can allow the company to regroup and focus on maintaining its dominant position, instead of getting too comfortable.
 

Green is the new black. At least, that’s the case in the communications industry where companies are finding that using green technology is not only good for the planet but good for business as well. Want to learn more about how being green can make money? Mark your calendar now for TMC’s (News - Alert) first annual Green Technology World Conference, Sept. 11-12, 2007 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. Preview the show schedule, speakers and exhibitors—then register to attend.

 
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.





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