Champ Turns New Category Into No Contest

No doubt: Wireless LANs is a sexy place to be. They are being installed in greater numbers as the cost for products drops and the cost of rewiring an enterprise climbs. This product market has seen a lot of action during the past year--one of the reasons why we decided to treat this industry segment as its own category for the first time in the 2003 VARBusiness Annual Report Card.

The results show Cisco took the top spot with ease. It won in two subcategories--product innovation and support--and earned first-place marks in three out of five criteria. It also enjoyed a big boost by taking the lead in loyalty. The company's Aironet product line dominated the competition, including D-Link System's Air line of adapters and access points, Enterasys Networks' RoamAbout access points, and NetGear's line of access points, routers and adapters.

Cisco scored big in two particular areas: product quality/reliability and quality of technical support. And not surprisingly, given the company's commodity and retail focus, NetGear ranked lowest for loyalty. In fact, its score was one of the lowest loyalty ratings in the entire ARC.

This year's crop of new wireless products includes new support for the 802.11a and g frequencies, as well as network-management products that promise more profit and greater throughputs than the old Wi-Fi standbys.

But while Cisco dominated the wireless LAN category, it isn't invincible, according to the ARC results. Our survey shows that its biggest competitor, Enterasys, is favored in at least two criteria. Enterasys, for example, achieved the highest scores in sales partnering and in managing channel conflict. Conversely, Cisco finished in last place for the latter.

This is no surprise given the landscape in the past year, as many VARs are beginning to hedge their bets and broaden their product lines. In fact, VARBusiness' 2003 State of the Market study had revealed that 22 percent more VARs this year than last planned on adding new product lines.

"We selected Enterasys for a number of reasons, including the breadth of its product portfolio and support," says Chris Meaney, director of secure networks for Siemens Enterprise Networks, a networking VAR based in San Jose, Calif. "We want to have the top three vendors that clients are going to need in each of the categories that we compete in. Then we marry that with the vision to provide value and differentiate [ourselves]."