Structured Cabling Leading Vendors for Enterprise

Avaya

Delhi based, it is the largest structured cabling company in
the country. Avaya which is known to have pioneered the spread of structured
cabling solutions in the country, still continues to dominate the market place,
despite its moving to the Avaya Avatar. Some of the key wins last year were GE
Capital, Sun, Wipro, and Gujarat Secretariat. Avaya has a large base of
customers, and has re-structured recently to address the Indian customers more
comprehensively. Partners such as Ingram Micro, TecPacific, NetSol, and Wipro,
are the four key pillars for success of this former Lucent in India. Systimax
SCS and LazerSpeed solutions are the backbone for Avaya. And its strength in all
verticals has been the success secret.

Brand-Rex

The face of Brand-Rex today is Magnum Connect, in Bangalore.
Following the global realignment of BICC-Brand Rex, in 1998-99 as Brand-Rex, the
MillenniuM range of products is being promoted by Magnum. It has a a
comprehensive range of cables and components available under its MillenniuM
brand, and its unique proposition is that it allows one to choose between, or
mix and match, screened or unscreened copper cable, blown fiber, and
conventional optical fiber cable and components. MillenniuM comprises four
product sets. CAT6Plus and GigaPlus form part of the complete range of
unscreened and screened cables, patch cords, patch panels, data outlets, baluns,
and accessories. Blolite is a blown fiber future-proof network. BloTwist is a
unique copper and blown fiber system.

Deltafull

This Bangalore-based company is the only Indian component
manufacturer. Manufactures and distributes factory crimped stranded patch cords,
and has been able push through it products through good support and attractive
prices. And today, it has a complete portfolio of solutions. Last year, it too,
went aggressive with introduction cables and fiber products. Under its kitty, it
offers Cat 5 keystone jack, face plates, surface mount jack, distribution
panels, patch cables and accessories, cable management solutions, and testers.
Further, in the fiber arena it introduced optic fiber connector, adaptor, fiber
patch panels, economic patch panel, and optic fiber patch cord. This year, it
wants to concentrate further by increasing its distributors and resellers.

D-Link

D-Link’s saga with structured cabling began in 1999-00 when
it became the third largest player in the industry, because of its aggressive
pricing and focus, which continues even now. D-Link is a visible brand today. It
believes that a cable is a cable (Cat 5, E-Cat5, or proposed Cat6) as long as
the network is up and trouble free. D-Link still leverages on its strength as an
active components player in the network. The company in 2000-01 doubled its
revenue from structured cabling to Rs 30 crore from that in the previous year. A
strong dealer and reseller network across the country, and strong loyalty
programs have been helping the vendor soar high.

Duratube

The UK-based Duratube Ltd is a manufacturer of
high-performance telephony, networking cables, and structured cabling products.
Based in Bangalore in India, its Duranet range of products are ISO 9002
certified and include Category 5, 5E, and 6 multi-pair cables, fiber-optic
cables, telephone cables (internal and external), and instrumentation and
control cables. And its Duranet system addresses the datacom needs. The office
in Bangalore not only addresses the Indian market, but also oversee the SAARC
operations. Started just a couple of years ago in India, the company is
concentrating of building its brand awareness, increasing its channel partners,
and distributors. It has appointed HCL Peripherals as the chief distributor and
importer, and would be announcing its VAR and SIs, shortly. Its current list of
distributors besides HCL include Milestone Engineering in Delhi and Focus
Infosys in Mumabi. Moreover, it claims to be the first company to go for delta
verification for Cat. 6.

Finolex Cables

In the last year, Finolex stepped up its presence in the
structured cabling solutions by entering into a relationship with Leviton, and
aggressively making its solutions available across the country. It has a very
good network of retailers and distributors to promote its solutions. Through its
relationship with Leviton, Finolex introduces OptiNet range of solutions. Its
message across was that OptiNet was a comprehensive solution that integrates the
Finolex Cat 5 and Enhanced Cat 5 cable solutions, and Leviton’s
frame-to-station connectivity solutions for a cost effective and flawless
network performance capability. It concentrated on educating, certification, and
building its distribution network. It is understood to have done about Rs 4
crore of revenue from structured cabling, last year.

Krone Communications

Krone’s PremiseNET range of solutions made a dent into the
market place. It introduced the Trunet range of cabling systems, which is a
zero-bit error rate system that can go beyond the Cat5, Cat5E, and proposed Cat6
compliance (beyond Gigabit cabling). It achieved this as a result of increased
focus on its TrueNet based solutions and on fiber, in the vertical and
horizontal segments and as a solution for mission-critical business scenario.
And its strong commitment to the Indian market, and strategy of adding new
distributors and channels, got the desired results. It appointed Intercon
Systems and Nebula as the channel partner and tied up with ITI to jointly bid
for turnkey orders. As a result of all this, it was able to bag major orders
from Tidel PARK, Anand Bazar Patrika, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Rubber
Board Kerala, among others. And it has a strong chance to consolidate its market
further, now with more focus on fiber and TrueNet solutions, and Fiber to the
Desk solutions. It would stress on training and certification, too.

Molex

The wholly-owned subsidiary of Molex in India with the
structured cabling business at about Rs 16 crore has been consolidating further.
Today, it accounts for 10.5 percent market share. It is the fourth largest
company in this business. Molex smartly positioned itself to address the 250-500
node network and small cities, on account of which it achieved its breakthrough.
And as a strategy, it continued with training. This Bangalore-based company
appointed two distributors SES Tech and Aditi. Further, the company also
introduced it Cat 6 solutions. Now with the fiber market and the telecom market
opening up in India and Asia, Molex is on its way to consolidate its business
further.

Nordx

Chennai-based Apcom is the key distributor of Nordx. Apcom is
understood to have done a total business of Rs 4.20 crore for Nordx in India
last year. Nordx is a brand name that is very well-known for its technology
leadership, but failed to be aggressive in the Indian market place because of
not having a direct presence and lack of a clear focused strategy. The company
in India is finally looking at stepping up its presence by starting a liaison
office. If it props up its aggressiveness here, it is highly possible to reach
among the top three positions in the industry. This can be forecasted
considering the fact that with just one key distributor, it has done
successfully in the market. All it needs its brand awareness and a good channel
strategy. It can easily capitalize on its IBDN range of structured cabling and
fiber solutions.

Panduit

Bangalore-based Panduit is every enterprises’ darling when
it comes to cable management solutions. Panduit, in the last one year, has
strived to better its performance beyond that image and prove that it was a
total solutions provider. Towards that it set up a warehouse in Bangalore to
support distributors, focused strongly on vertical segments. It did business
close to Rs 8 crore last year. This year could see it further consolidating as a
total solutions provider. To its current list of over seven prominent authorized
integrators and six authorized distributors, it wants to add a few more names,
strong in specific vertical segments. Also, it would open offices in Chennai and
move to the ‘B’ and ‘C’ class cities. Apart from this, its strategy
would be to focus on training for end-users, SIs, and distributors. And
concentrate on fiber solutions like the fibrerunner routing system, which is
part of a broad, integrated network connectivity systems of connectors, outlets,
interconnection systems, fiber routing systems, network cable tie systems,
identification systems, and grounding systems.

TVSNet

The R&M Freenet solutions supplier in India, Bangalore-based
TVSNet, made mark in the ‘B’ and ‘C’ class towns. During the year, it
focused on training and certification, and creating more awareness. It also
introduced R&M’s Star System, an end-to-end Cat 6 solution and Vision
System. As a result of that it made an entry into major software companies.
Further, its focus on key segments like education and healthcare gave R&M
significant breakthrough. It won major orders from Madurai Kamraj University and
from Narayan Hridayalaya and Bapuji dental college. Further, it tied up with
Prestige Group for establishing network infrastructure for its clients. It won a
prestigious campus network order from Ashok Leyland for its plant in Hosur
involving all the available technologies, shielded & unshielded in copper,
seamlessly integrated with fiber optic network, using single as well as
multimode fiber cables and accessories. This year, it wants to go through
increased focus on manufacturing, government, and finance segments. Further,
increase its presence in education segment and concentrate on channel expansion.
As a result of all these, it intends to expand its business from the current
levels of Rs 7 crore by 30-40 percent.

Tyco

Bangalore-based Tyco, and erstwhile AMP, consolidated its market share and
mind share. Today, it has the highest brand recall as cabling solutions provider
and has over 21 percent market share. It achieved this through persistence with
strong training, logistics support, bonded warehouse, and cordial channels or
distribution partnerships. Even, its focus remained very clear. It concentrated
on software development centers and data center, and increased its presence in
the ‘B’ and ‘C’ class cities. It has got in the 50/125 multimode fiber
category and has close to 80 percent market share in the same. Meanwhile, it
introduced cable-management accessories and innovative products like AMP
communications Outlet for the call center, and MPO for the ISP and data center
market. It will be further aggressive on MPO, MT-RJ fiber optic connectors,
consolidate and increase systems integrators, and reseller base and reach. And
will introduce new products and services to cover emerging MAN markets.