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To: signist who wrote (7471)	3/2/1998 1:35:00 PM
From: signist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42804

For what it's worth? Strategic Networks' Study Shows Vendor Marketing Messages Don't Counter Enterprise Concerns BOSTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategic Networks, a leading provider of network consulting services, today announced the completion of the Layer 3 Switching Market Assessment, a comprehensive market research study uncovering enterprise users' barriers to deploying Layer 3 switching technology. Strategic Networks conducted extensive telephone and on-site interviews of over 300 enterprises, ranging in size from 100-5,000 desktops, in the U.S. and Europe. The research project was led by Dr. Lynn DeNoia, director of Consulting Services for Strategic Networks, and co-sponsored by 3Com Corp., Cisco Systems, Bay Networks, Digital Equipment Corp., Extreme Networks and Torrent Networking Technologies. Key Findings "We discovered that the major barrier to deployment is that enterprise users have limited knowledge of Layer 3 technology. They have no concrete plans to purchase it, because they don't understand how it will help them," said DeNoia. "Other major barriers to implementing Layer 3 technology are the lack of standards and lack of proven technology." Strategic Networks uncovered compelling evidence that vendors' marketing messages are misguided. "Enterprises are more concerned with ease of deployment than with network management or performance," continued DeNoia. "But most vendors are pushing performance and cost in their marketing messages. While Strategic Networks has tested products that really do provide ten times the performance at 1/10 the cost, buyers are more concerned with being short staffed and are worried about having the human resources and the right skill sets to deploy new technology." Additional Findings "One of the most surprising findings is that the #1 item enterprises plan to purchase in the next 6-18 months is hubs," said DeNoia. "The fundamental lesson here is that 'simple' is the key to deployment. If people understand the technology, they buy the technology." The Layer 3 Market Assessment Study also contains the following findings: -- enterprise network strategies; -- percentage of enterprises implementing ATM or gigabit technology; -- rate of network traffic growth; -- networking issues that are keeping networking managers awake at night; and -- which technologies and hardware enterprises are planning to implement in their networks. Availability The Layer 3 Switching Market Assessment is available for $12,500. To order, call Peter Murphy at Strategic Networks, 617-912-8325 or 800-999-7624 (US only). Visit Strategic Networks' Web site, www.snci.com, for additional information on The Layer 3 Market Assessment Study.