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Cisco placed first with an overall 2006 Channel Champions solution provider satisfaction rating of 79.5. Cisco's Linksys division finished second with 78.7, followed by Netgear (75.0), D-Link (74.4) and Belkin (72.3). In channel criteria, Cisco won four of nine criteria and captured the technical education area by 5.7 points over its Linksys division. "None of the other networking vendors have training that even comes close," said Gary Berzack, CTO of eTribeca, a New York-based partner. He said Cisco provides strategic training at little or no cost on an ongoing basis through a strong national training affiliate program. Solution providers didn't rank Cisco as highly in responsiveness to partner feedback and reducing channel conflict. In technical criteria, Cisco also trailed every other vendor except Belkin on the criterion of price/performance, coming in 5.7 points behind its Linksys division. "Cisco still does not know how to price things for the SMB space and is stuck in an enterprise pricing model," Berzack said. "They also seem to be unable or unwilling to erode midmarket sales into an SMB-specific product." However, Cisco's WLAN products ranked highest in three of six technical criteria and scored a 4.2-point margin of victory in scalability, which Berzack attributed to Cisco's mature network management platform and solid aftermarket alliances. The integration of WLAN technology from Cisco's March 2005 acquisition of Airespace has made it easier for partners to deploy and manage wireless networks, said Lauren Ventura, senior director of worldwide commercial marketing at Cisco, San Jose, Calif. "It's a zero-touch deployment model because intelligence is in the controller, which allows partners providing remote management to manage the WLAN from an interface," Ventura said.  |
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