Quality, reliability and support come top in Siemon end user structured cabling survey

For Immediate Release
22 May 2007

Quality, reliability and support come top in Siemon end user structured cabling survey

Research carried out by Siemon, the global structured cabling specialist, has revealed that quality, reliability and support are the top three criteria when it comes to IT staff across the EMEA region selecting LAN cabling.

The survey covered 16 countries across EMEA, with the UK representing a majority 31 per cent response. 85 per cent of respondents said they were involved in decisions related to IT purchasing, with 26 per cent making final purchasing decisions.

"What came as a pleasant surprise is that overall respondents told us that quality was their key choice when making cabling decisions," said Steven Foster, Siemon's EMEA marketing manager, who added that price only came in sixth position in the list of 13 criteria, behind warranty and the availability of localised support services.

"The research found that IT management and support staff, who accounted for 65 per cent of the survey's respondents, are now weighing up all the total cost of ownership issues, rather than purely up-front pricing, when making their cabling choices," he explained.

The survey spanned staff in IT management (39 per cent of respondents) and IT support (26 per cent) in companies of all sizes, including 1 to 1,000 employees (40 per cent) and 1,000 to 5,000 employees (29 per cent). A total of 19 different industry sectors were covered with significant representation by IT and telecoms (18 per cent), education (14 per cent) and the finance industry (11 per cent).

Analysis of the industry specific data shows that different sectors prioritise decision making factors differently. Finance and retail demonstrate dramatically different choices.

Foster went on to say that the in-depth survey proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that price is no longer the dominant factor when it comes to managers and their decision-influencing colleagues selecting cabling and allied technology.

"It's extremely interesting to see data from such a wide-ranging survey. Siemon has had more than 100 years in the cabling industry and has been a trend-setter for all of that time. The heavy investments that we have made in research and development over the years are clearly justified by the results of this research," he said.

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About Siemon: Established in 1903, Siemon is an industry leader specialising in the manufacture and innovation of high quality, high-performance network cabling solutions. Headquartered in Connecticut, USA, with global offices and partners throughout the world, Siemon offers the most comprehensive suite of copper (unshielded and shielded twisted-pair) and fibre cabling systems available. With over 400 active patents specific to structured cabling, Siemon Labs invests heavily in R&D and development of industry standards, underlining the company's long-term commitment to its customers and the industry.

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