Carriers Say Cisco Is Tops in Telecom Equipment Market Leadership Worldwide, New Study Finds
Heavy Reading survey confirms Cisco's standing as the world's most widely recognized telecom equipment brand
NEW YORK, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) remains the most powerful brand in telecom networking equipment worldwide, according to a major study released today by Heavy Reading ( http://www.heavyreading.com/ ), the market research division of Light Reading Inc.
Heavy Reading's 2005 Wireline Telecom Equipment Market Perception Study measures how well makers of telecom equipment are faring in their efforts to capture the attention of their service provider customers. The study is based on an exclusive, invitation-only survey of 160 service provider professionals, representing more than 100 carriers worldwide, and covers buyer perceptions of equipment vendors in 17 different wireline product categories. The study covers 140 vendors, including 61 public companies and 79 private companies.
Survey respondents rated equipment sellers on these five leadership
criteria:
* Name recognition
* Price
* Product performance
* Product quality and reliability
* Service and support
This all-new report updates and expands on Heavy Reading's groundbreaking Fall 2003 market perception report, providing clear and compelling evidence of how vendors are succeeding -- or failing -- to capture mindshare among prospective buyers of their products.
Cisco is still the clear mindshare leader in the wireline telecom equipment market. Repeating the results from the Fall 2003 market perception study, Cisco stands as the industry leader in the eyes of service providers. Cisco's most important edge over the competition is its brand recognition, but it also has a huge edge over competitors as the most reliable vendor for service and support.
Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR) is Cisco's closest competitor for customer mindshare. Service provider buyers of routers view Juniper as almost equal to Cisco in terms of product performance and quality. Juniper is also the second most recognized equipment brand name behind Cisco.
China's Huawei Technologies has already surpassed several incumbent vendors in perceived market leadership. Huawei's huge jump in market perception ratings from the Fall 2003 survey is the most remarkable and probably most important development in the wireline telecom equipment industry. What makes Huawei's ascendancy even more astounding is the fact that the company still has only a minimal presence in the North American market.
Many equipment vendors are struggling for market recognition. Only five vendors with products in four or more equipment categories -- Cisco, Juniper, Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) , Nortel Networks (NYSE/Toronto: NT), and Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) -- had average brand recognition scores of over 50 percent across all product categories. Only Cisco, Juniper, and Alcatel received name recognition scores of over 80 percent in any one product category -- a clear indication that vendors can do a better job of getting their message across to prospective buyers.
Heavy Reading's 2005 Wireline Telecom Equipment Market Perception Study, a 96-page report, costs $3,795. Report buyers also gain access to a searchable online database of all survey results allowing for deep analysis of survey data by a range of targeted demographic criteria.
About Heavy Reading
Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next- generation hardware and software.
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