D-Link retains the crown
 The usual conundrum we face while ranking the networking category is whether we are comparing apple to oranges. That's how many describe the comparison between D-Link and Cisco as both vendors operate in different customer segments.
While D-Link's product offerings mainly target the SMBs, Cisco's market starts from the top-end of the mid-size organizations to large enterprises.
However staying true to the methodology of the survey, where a large number of respondents are solution providers from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, largely catering to SMBs, it is only fair to go by the results polled.
Also another fact to consider while analyzing these rankings is the fact that Cisco for over a year has been working aggressively on evolving its SMB strategy.
D-Link continues to enjoy channel confidence among majority of resellers who provide networking solutions to SMBs. Its distribution depth, convincing price-performance and channel relationships helped it retain its Channel Champions crown.
Nevertheless, Cisco has improved its market coverage significantly, and has become far more proactive in its channel engagement with partners in tier-2 cities than it was in 2007. Over the last 12-15 months, the company has been working aggressively on enrolling new partners and evolving an SMB strategy by launching new products designed for SMBs. However, this is yet to show significant positive results among channels.
According to many respondents, Cisco has Linksys that can effectively compete with D-Link and Netgear in the SMB space, but throughout 2008 there was confusion at Cisco regarding what to do with the Linksys brand. Still, toward the end of the year, the company was seen streamlining its Linksys strategy, and many believe that this will give tough competition to D-Link in 2009.
HP Procurve, on the back of its strong channel-connect with HP partners, did well at number three though its strategy of selective distribution needs review since many said that they don't do business with Procurve simply because it's not easily available.
Price-performance
On performance, Cisco is ahead of D-Link. However, its high prices keeps it out of the reach of most SMBs. D-Link on the other hand is a perfect value-for-money brand, thus polling ahead of Cisco on the popular vote. Most D-Link products carry a lifetime warranty, giving it an edge over Cisco on overall price-performance.
Although Procurve offers lifetime warranty on most products, many respondents were unaware of it. Purely on performance, Procurve ranks lower than Cisco among enterprise partners.
Marketing & branding
D-Link ranked as the most aggressive in terms of marketing. The company enjoys substantial brand pull among SMBs. Among large enterprises there is no match for Cisco's brand pull, and even among SMBs the brand continues to have an aspirational brand association. A few Cisco Select partners in tier-1 and tier-2 cities said that in spite of the vendor having products for the SMB market there is still the perception that it is an enterprise player.
Adding HP to Procurve has helped the company create brand awareness. However, many partners in tier-2 and tier-3 cities have little knowledge about its offerings.
Service & support
D-Link emerged the overall winner, though in tier-1 cities Cisco got higher positive scores. While respondents from tier-1 cities liked Cisco's process-driven approach to post-sales support, in smaller cities they find the process too cumbersome. HP Procurve came third.
Training & certification
While Cisco was rated higher for its certification, D-Link scored higher marks for conducting regular training programs among partners across a large number of cities.
Cisco certification training carries higher weightage because Cisco-certified professionals are much sought after. There is a flip side—partners mentioned that the cost of certification is high, and that once a professional is Cisco-certified the risk of losing him is even higher. HP Procurve conducts regular quarterly training in tier-1 cities.
Channel relationships
D-Link came out on top primarily because of the depth of its coverage and wider branch presence which, according to respondents, helps with more personal interface with partners and improves responsiveness to channels.
Cisco was rated high on channel relationships in tier-1 cities, but in tier-2 and tier-3 it has limited interface with channels. Several D-Link partners in tier-2 and tier-3 cities said that there was no effort made by Cisco to reach out to them. HP Procurve works with select HP partners. Many respondents in tier-2 cities said that they didn't know about HP Procurve's product offerings.
Winner in the Networking Category in Channel Champions 2007
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