SMB Networking Hardware: Adtran Keeps It Simple, Walks Away With Win

Adtran's victory in the ARC category of SMB Networking Hardware might best be summed up with an adage: Keep it simple.

It's that basic principle that's allowed partners to stay profitable with, and loyal to, Adtran's products, according to Vice President of Channel Sales Ted Cole. That's true even as more muscled players like Cisco and HP ProCurve try to absorb as much of the midmarket and small-business segments as possible.

"There were things that kept coming to the surface when we talked with partners," Cole said. "They said, 'You guys have the best technical support of anybody we have to deal with. Your folks are not in a hurry to get rid of us, and if that means sticking on the phone or conferencing in another vendor, well, they're in it for the long haul.' And that's true. When a partner calls into our organization, our engineers will make sure they have the right products and also that they're not overengineering a solution and not underengineering a solution."

Among the individual scores Adtran is most proud of, Cole said, are in sales support and channel acuity, where in some cases it scored three or more points higher than Cisco and HP. In criteria such as managing channel conflict, ROI and communication, it trounced the competition, with point differentials of five to 10 points in each.

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