Cisco Systems, perhaps best known for its enterprise networking products, has shown that it can be a strong contender in the Asian small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) market, based on data from market research firm International Data Corp.
According to the IDC figures, which Cisco officials showed off to reporters last week, Cisco accounted for approximately 23 per cent of the Asian market for Fast Ethernet switches in 1998. And that's not exactly peanuts. Based on the IDC figures, Cisco sales in that sector of the market appear close to $US90 million - a healthy increase over the company's 1997 sales of $US53 million.
While Cisco's earnings from Fast Ethernet switches grew between 1997 and 1998, the company's share of the total market remained unchanged, IDC said.
Rivals 3Com and Nortel Networks, however, both saw a small dip in their share of the Fast Ethernet switch market - from 27 to 25 per cent and from 16 to 14 per cent respectively, according to IDC.
Despite the small drop in market share, both 3Com and Nortel saw healthy growth in Asian sales of Fast Ethernet switches. 3Com saw sales grow by more than 50 per cent from $US62 million to $97 million, while Nortel posted similar gains as revenues rose from $US37 million to $58 million, IDC said.
