By Editor
With its first ever partner event in the Middle East, fast-rising networking brand ZyXEL showcased its portfolio of SMB products to an eager and growing partner network
ZyXEL brought its first ever ZyConnect Partner event to Dubai to enhance market understanding for the brand that is expected to grow market share at the expense of established brands in the networking space
Presentations by various speakers highlighted innovative technology from ZyXEL from next generation Wi-Fi to Ethernet Switches to digital homes and fibre and copper access network solutions.
The ZyXEL brand has been present in the Middle East for the last one year in which time it’s already made great headway in the crowded Middle East networking space.
Gordon Yang, company President, said the relatively late entrance of the brand into the market should not be a barrier to market share growth. “The market is dynamic and always changing,” said Yang. “From ISP, to Broadband to the modern age-so of high speed LTE, the content requirements are always different. No matter when you come into the market, there are always different types of opportunities,” Yang added. The key differentiator, Yang explained, is the company’s competence and being able to provide futuristic solutions as one becomes more and more important.
ZyXEL’s products and solutions are wide and varied, running the whole gamut from Home Routers to Wireless LAN, Powerline and Coax Adapters and network storage and players. But it’s in the SMB where ZyXEL thrives with security appliances and services, Switches, WLAN APs and Controllers, gateways and Network Management among solutions on offer.
For the enterprise service provider market, ZyXEL offers DSL CPEs, Fiber Access, carrier and access switches, LTE, Ethernet over Coax, Small Cell among others.
Yang observed although there are various similarities with other developed markets, the Middle East’s infrastructure is different. “So I believe our offerings are able to provide unique positioning and being able to compete. From a technology perspective, we have some competence learned from our experiences in other markets that is different from our competitors,” Yang added.
ZyXEL occupies a unique position in the middle of the networking spectrum well catered for the SMB/SME-centred Middle East region. “There are networking giants in the higher end enterprise solutions- giant projects are their first priority so that a smaller sized customer will not get their attention because as they are busy with large enterprises. On the other end are the low-end equipment vendors and a reseller in search of a solution will not get from them something useful, said Yang, adding, “This is where we come into play.”
The channel is at the core of ZyXEL’s go-to market strategy. ZyXEL, Yang says, relies extensively on system integrators and resellers as the company does not go into the market directly except with operators.
Yang is content with market growth in the market so far. “We have been in this market for less than a year and our position is quite good and our achievements have actually exceeded our expectations. This only proves that we do have a unique position that has been entirely missed by other vendors.”
That, Yang observes, bodes well for future regional growth prospects as the company chases similar market share as in ZyXEL’s other more mature markets. “In certain parts of Europe we enjoy 12% market share and we want to duplicate the same numbers here in the Middle East where we are striving for around 10% market share in the region,” Yang added. Within the networking space, Wireless, Security and BYOD are the major themes of discussion.
“Technology-wise, we have the One Network which is the one area that we want to put a lot of emphasis in the management. A device is fine, but if you want to turn a device into a solution you need to have the management and provision platform,” Yang said. “So software combined with devices is the area we are really investing heavily in,” he added.
The One Network from ZyXEL is a comprehensive business networking solutions from switches to Wireless LANs, security appliances and gateways. The robust, reliable networking equipment from ZyXEL-one of the few companies that possess all key technologies for all business networking product lines-enables the company to fully integrate switches, wireless APs and gateways in an innovative way. With this capability, ZyXEL offers a truly integrated One Network experience from LAN to WLAN and the gateway.