Thread: Structured Cabling

Structured cabling is a key element of any network infrastructure, and the way new data centers are coming up in the country, this segment is seeing lots of growth. That's why we've also devoted a separate buying guide for segment, so that you can understand what's happening in this segment and how to choose the right structured cabling equipment. In fact, there are quite a few interesting things coming up in this segment, like lOG over copper, unified cabling throughout the infrastructure, and much more. While there are several key players in this category, each with their own specialties, only three made it to the Users' Choice future readiness club-D-Link, Finolex, and Systimax. Last year, we also had AMP in the club, but this year, it couldn't gather sufficient votes to be in it. The situation of these brands as compared to last year has improved. They've all become more persuasive as compared to last year. While they were all loosing brand pull last year, this year, they've started gaining.

Last year, there was a lot of uncertainty amongst the respondents on which brand would they shift to from their existing one, but this year, they're more decisive. In all, they're all moving at a much faster pace than last year, which is in sync with the growing demand in the market for structured cabling. Out of all three brands, D-Link once again emerged as the most future ready brand in this segment, making it the winner of Users' Choice awards. It had the highest current ownership, top of mind recall, and future likelihood of purchase amongst the respondents. This was the same situation last year. There is a change in the other brands that are a part ofthe Users' Choice club. Last year, Avaya, AMP, Finolex, and Molex were in the club. This year, only Finolex and Systimax received sufficient votes to stay in the club. Finolex is the most persuasive brand ofthe lot.



In fact, it's the only brand in which the number of people who're likely to purchase the brand are more than the number who could recall it on top of their minds. In others, top of mind recall is higher than likelihood of purchase, i.e. less persuasiveness. D-Link has the highest brand pull situation, wherein there are more CIOs likely to switch into the brand than switch out. Finolex has the next best brand pull. Systimax needs to be a little more careful, because the number of likely switch outs from this brand is higher than the number of switch-ins. Brand loyalty amongst all brands has increased over last year by varying degrees. Finolex enjoys the highest .brand loyalty, but the percentage of users likely to swtich out is also the highest. D-Link has next highest brand loyalty, with 26% of its userswho're uncertain about which brand to shift to. Systimax has only 41% brand loyalty, and a large 50% existing user base who're not sure which brand to move to.