As the SME sector strengthens its position in the industry and begins to embrace technologies, D-Link networking products, which are specifically geared towards this segment of the market, are experiencing phenomenal growth.
According to Paul Luff, product manager at LAN Design, a subsidiary of MB Technologies and a D-Link distributor, all products related to the SME market are growing dramatically, especially as government places more focus on these companies as the mechanism for strengthening the country`s economy.
As a distributor of D-Link products, LAN Design is aiming some of its products in the SME direction too. Most of D-Link`s products, including Internet sharing devices and Internet server products, are geared towards the SME sector, while the pricing on switches has been restructured to make them favourable to smaller companies which otherwise wouldn`t be able to afford this top-end technology.
For example, LAN Design reseller Adept Technologies recently supplied R1.7 million worth of hardware products to ITC company Snyman & Vennote. Included in the deal were 71 D-Link Internet servers and 71 D-Link hubs.
"Besides being competitively priced, D-Link`s products are exceptionally reliable," says Adept Technologies . Grant Horn. "Both LAN Design and D-Link were extremely supportive in enabling us to provide a solution that met all the customer`s requirements."
Concentrating on the SME market, says Luff, also means being able to fulfil the needs of much larger corporate organisations, "as the small SMEs tend to grow and get swallowed up in mergers and acquisitions".
To demonstrate its commitment to the South African market, D-Link recently opened a well-staffed local office. This, says Luff, was in response to the dramatic uptake of the product set. "Our understanding of the SME market helps us to address it effectively," he adds.
"D-Link continues to perform exceptionally well in all the countries where technology is growing, and places such as the Eastern European bloc and Russia have warmed to the product dramatically," Luff concludes.
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LAN Design
LAN Design is a division of the MB Technologies Group and over the past financial year has contributed to the phenomenal 58% overall growth of the group.
"Unlike other distributors, LAN Design sees itself as Networking and Communications specialist and is completely focussed on the Channel."
For the year ahead, we are proactively aligning ourselves to launch in new market places, whilst still maintaining our existing valued customer base. We are making contacts in Africa, which will be a very lucrative venture for LAN Design.
"We are not only adding new products to our range, but are striving to constantly realign our business to the ever changing needs of the Industry as well as the constant changes in technology. Above all adding value to each transaction."
LAN Design has a very powerful Sales Team of expert Product Managers, Account Managers and a Business Development Manager led by Managing Director, George Smalberger.
The team is dedicated to being fast, focussed, flexible, friendly, fun and very visible in the industry! We are constantly developing relationships with both our suppliers and customers alike, by maintaining personal care."
LAN Design - Networking by Definition
D-Link
D-Link is a leading supplier of network products and provides complete and reliable LAN/WAN solutions for the small office/home office (SOHO), workgroup and departmental networks. These solutions bring desktop and notebook PC users end-to-end connection to the local area networks (LAN) as well as access to the Internet/Intranet and remote links to the outside world (WAN).
D-Link combines quality products with global service and support. We offer a full range of networking technologies designed for performance, scalability, reliability and manageability, while emphasising ease of use and low cost.
To protect users` investment, D-Link incorporates the latest technologies into the network systems today, while making them scalable and flexible enough to handle tomorrow`s demanding applications and configurations.
D-Link is ranked Worldwide No. 1 for unmanaged 10Mbps per port shipments in 1997 and Worldwide No.2 for combination category of 10Mbps and 10/100mbps NIC shipments in 1997. Source : Dataquest, May 1998.