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Structured Cabling

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

D-Link wins in the inaugural year, with Avaya, Krone and Finolex being the other members of the Users' Choice Club. Systimax just missed qualifying.

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This is another new category that we have introduced this year, given the level of action in the market. Before we get into an analysis of the lay of the market, it needs to be remembered that products in this segment have the longest life span. Once installed, the network cabling has to work and work without problems. Warranties themselves stretch to 15 or more years! So, market situations we see now may have their repercussions for many years ahead. 

D-Link has the highest brand loyalty at 94 percent followed by 79 percent for Krone and 76 percent for Avaya. Systimax has 65 percent brand loyalty, while Finolex has a low 54 percent brand loyalty. 

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For brand switch, let us start with the brands that did not make it to the Users' Choice Club. Maximum movement away from them would be to D-Link, and towards them would come from Finolex and

Systimax.

Winner D-Link stands to gain the maximum from movements across brands, standing to gain 12 to 17 percent from all the other brands in the Users' Choice Club. If you keep D-Link out of the equation for a moment, then all the other brands in the Club are likely to lose market share to those who did not make the grade! What this means is that if you keep D-Link out, then you have a very fragmented market, with the other brands busy fighting each other. This is perhaps what is giving D-Link the space to consolidate its market share!

Or, the MNC brands, Avaya, Krone, Systimax, etc, may well be playing the niche game, aiming only for the high-value segments, leaving the bulk of the market open to D-Link.

So, the next year, when we sit down to tabulate the results for this segment, we can very well expect a realignment in the rest of

the list, barring D-Link. But the bigger question is whether the gap between D-Link and the number two brand would have

narrowed or not.

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