Sage Research Survey Finds DEC, Hewlett-Packard, Intel,
and Madge Gaining On Big Three
Ethernet Switch Market Shares Vary by Vertical Industry and Company Size
NATICK, Mass., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A Sage Research survey of 700 US organizations has
discovered that LAN switch vendors typically assumed to be "second tier" are establishing strong
positions in specific customer groups. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Hewlett-Packard,
Intel, and Madge are among the more notable examples of this development.
The Sage Research study finds that some of the second tier players are gaining in particular vertical
industries, while others are strong in companies of specific sizes. For example, DEC and Madge
have both established important in-roads into key vertical industries. DEC has gained solid market
share in sales of Ethernet switches to Government and Insurance organizations. Madge Networks
has gained share in several customer groups, but is particularly visible in Manufacturing and Health
Care.
In contrast, Hewlett-Packard and Intel have market shares that vary notably by company size. Both
Hewlett-Packard and Intel are strong in sales of Ethernet switches to organizations with fewer than
1,000 employees.
"No matter how you slice the Ethernet switch market, as a whole it is dominated by 3Com, Cisco
and Bay, with Cabletron as a distant fourth," explains the study's author, Natalie Crosier. "But as we
analyzed the market share results, we found that market shares do vary by vertical industry and
company size -- and vendors like Hewlett-Packard, Madge, DEC and Intel were examples of this
phenomenon." Other vendors that were noted in the study as having gained share in particular
customer groups were UB Networks (now owned by Newbridge Networks), IBM and Compaq.
The data is published in Sage Research's recently released report, "Ethernet Switch Market
Analysis," The report delivers market data on three classes of Ethernet switches, and analyzes
market share and switch adoption by vertical industry and company size. Unlike other research firms
(which base market share analysis on shipment numbers reported by the switch manufacturers),
Sage Research gathers its data from the actual buyers of networking products. This methodology
avoids the common market share accuracy problems experienced by other research firms due to
over-reporting (often caused by double-counting sales from OEMs, and reporting of shipments to
distributors as opposed to actual end-customers).
The study concludes that the LAN switch market is not homogeneous. The survey results found that
brand preference, purchase behavior, and switch deployment vary by company size and vertical
industry. "Companies like Hewlett-Packard, DEC, Madge and Intel are leveraging their existing
strengths to establish significant niches in the LAN switch market," observes Sage Research
president Kathryn Korostoff. "These companies have specific combinations of features, price,
service and distribution that appeal to particular customer groups."
Founded in 1993, Sage Research specializes in primary market research for the networking,
computer, and software industries. The "Ethernet Switch Market Analysis" report is a deliverable of
Sage Research's LAN Trends Market Metrics service, a comprehensive annual service which
provides monthly quantitative and qualitative research to subscribers. Individual quantitative reports
are also available to non-subscribers for $2,500 per report. For more information see
www.sageresearch.com. SOURCE Sage Research |
