NETGEAR: 10 gigabit opens up new opportunities for resellers

After more than a decade in the corporate data centre, cost effective 10 gigabit connections are moving into the SMB market, opening the doors for local resellers to future-proof customers’ networks – and cross- and upsell.

Brad Little, NETGEAR Australia and New Zealand general manager, says the common issue of bottlenecks in network performance combined with dramatically reduced pricing of 10 gigabit are propelling the market to new highs.

“The price points and some of the barriers that were there two or three years ago have fallen away and we are really at that tipping point now where 10 gigabit is a real, genuinely viable option for businesses,” Little says.

And it’s not just big businesses either, with Little saying even one and two man bands around Australia and New Zealand are seeing a need for the switches, including companies dealing in video production, transferring financial documents, or using CAD/CAM.

Little says businesses and resellers alike are seeing performance bottlenecks in networks.

“Resellers are recognising that somewhere in the network there is a bottleneck, and that’s driven by the internet of things devices, the number of wireless devices connecting, the size of video files and data that needs to be transferred,” Little says.

That, combined with the ‘drastic’ decrease in 10Gb pricing has opened up the opportunity for resellers to future proof customer networks for a small additional investment.

“For about $1000 we can start to deploy a 10Gb pipe into the network. Gone are the days when it was thousands and thousands of dollars.

“The price premium from a gigabit to 10Gb is not what it used to be, even if they don’t have the need or performance requirements right here today to install 10Gb, if they can see demand on the network is only going to increase and get bigger, it’s a very worthwhile investment to install the right infrastructure, now.”

Tris Simmons, NETGEAR global director of product marketing (pictured), says 10Gb also offers resellers opportunities beyond the switching sales.

“This notion of just looking at the switch network in isolation from everything else is no longer something you can afford to do,” Simmons says.

He cites the example of a company experiencing wireless performance issues.

“One of the things they don’t necessarily think about is the firewall. And that’s where I challenge people – when was the last time you did anything about your firewall?

“Because if the firewall hasn’t been considered in your wireless plans and you’ve refreshed your wireless network, depending on how much that has changed, potentially your weak lin, or bottleneck, becomes the firewall because the throughput capacity has a certain limit.

“If your broadband speeds are faster than they used to be, your wireless network is faster than it used to be, if you haven’t made sure the two meet in the middle through the firewall effectively, then the firewall is your big issue.”

He says in a world where the network is now becoming mission critical for companies of all sizes, the individual components can no longer be treated in isolation.

“So when you’re looking at wireless, security, storage or switching, you have to think of the implications what you’re doing will have on the other areas.”

That, Simmons says, means for resellers, the move to 10Gb means opportunities beyond the switching network.

“If you’re engaging in switch opportunities there could be a potential firewall opportunity there, and at the same time there could be a potential wireless and storage opportunities.”

Adds Little: “Sometimes it is hard to make selling switches a sexy proposition. It’s very utilitarian, very simple, needs based selling.

“But this evolution of the amount of devices connecting, the type of devices connecting, the amount of content and data being moved around the network, means we’re at a tipping point where 10Gb can open up a lot of really good, genuine value-added conversations, and resellers can go to their customers and provide insight and value by providing more robust, future-proof and value added networks.

“And that hopefully means they win more business, add more value and we see the market grow.”