How Dominant Is Cisco?
The numbers are telling, and Cisco is dominant not only in terms of market share, but also in terms of customer loyalty. Of the 20 clients I interviewed, 12 (or 60%) selected Cisco as their LAN infrastructure vendor, and 11 of the 12 Cisco shops did not even evaluate other vendors. Comments from loyal Cisco shops included, “I’m a big fan of competitive analysis. There are very few things I do without taking a look at the landscape and seeing what’s out there. But when it comes to the Cisco, I don’t look around,” and, “I think it [Cisco] was the safe bet.”
Info-Tech's survey data mirrored the interview responses, with 59% of 112 respondents selecting Cisco as their primary LAN infrastructure vendor. Of the 59% that selected Cisco, roughly one-third did not consider any other vendors. The remaining 41% of the market is shared by 10 vendors, with the second-place vendor taking 12% of the market. These figures reinforce Cisco’s widely known dominance of the LAN infrastructure market.
