IT Pros Vote 2020 Networking Brand Leaders

Cisco selected Market Leader in five product categories, including the first annual survey covering the nascent On-Prem Networking-as-a-Service product category

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — April 6, 2020  IT Brand Pulse, a trusted source for research, data and analysis about data center infrastructure, today announced the 2020 networking Brand Leaders, voted by IT professionals from around the world. The independent, non-sponsored annual survey asked which vendors are perceived to be the market, price, performance, reliability, innovation and service and support leader for twelve networking product categories.

“This round of surveys was highlighted by IT preferences for familiar networking brands in cloud-driven categories” said Frank Berry, CEO and Sr. Analyst, IT Brand Pulse. “Enterprise networking giants Cisco, Dell EMC, and Arista were voted as market leaders for On-Prem Networking-as-a-Service, Open Networking Switches, and Open Networking Switch OS.”

Survey Highlights

Cisco
100-400Gb Ethernet Switches
Cisco dominated the competition for 100-400Gb Ethernet Switches as IT Pros voted them the leader in all six categories­ – Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support leader – for the second year in as many surveys. Juniper was once again named the runner-up for Market leader with Arista in third.

25-100Gb Ethernet Switches
Cisco continues to be the front runner for 25-100Gb Ethernet Switches as IT Pros voted them the leader for Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support – making this their third clean sweep in as many surveys. Juniper came in second for Market leader, followed closely by Dell.

Fibre Channel Switches
Cisco and Broadcom were close in all segments for Fibre Channel Switches; however, Cisco emerged as the leader for Market, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support. The Brocade switches from Broadcom picked up the title for Price leader.      

Network Performance Management
Cisco swept the board for Network Performance Management as IT Pros voted them the leader for Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support leader. SolarWinds was voted second for Market with Riverbed in third.

On-Prem Networking as-a-Service
In this newly added survey category, IT Pros voted Cisco the leader for Market, Performance, Reliability and Innovation. Dell Technologies, Market runner-up, was awarded the titles for Price and Service & Support. HPE was voted third for Market, respectively.

Broadcom
25-100Gb Ethernet Adapters
IT Pros voted Broadcom and Intel as the new leaders for 25-100Gb Ethernet Adapters. Broadcom was voted Market, Price, Performance and Innovation leader; while Intel, second place for Market, was voted Reliability and Service & Support. Mellanox, the leading competitor for the previous two years, was bumped down to third for Market.

Fibre Channel HBAs
Broadcom and their Emulex brand HBAs proved to be the clear leader for Fibre Channel HBAs as they received the majority of votes from IT Pros for Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support – making this their fourth consecutive year dominating in every segment. The other two competitors in this category, Marvell with their QLogic HBAs and ATTO, finished second and third in that order. 

F5
Hardware Application Delivery Controllers
IT Pros continued to vote F5 the Market, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support leader for Hardware Application Delivery Controllers for the second year in a row. Citrix, runner-up for Market, just barely managed to snag the title for Price leader. Barracuda Networks settled for third for Market.

Dell EMC
Open Networking Switch (Bare Metal Switch)
Dell EMC once again leads all six segments for Open Networking Switch for the sixth time: Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support. IT Pros voted HPE for second in every segment, followed by Alpha Networks.

Arista
Open Networking Switch OS
While the top three companies of Open Networking Switch OS were close in all categories, Arista came out on top as the Market leader, also claiming Price, Performance, Innovation and Service & Support leader. Big Switch snagged the title for Reliability leader. Cumulus was voted second for Market and Big Switch third.

Riverbed
Packet Capture Appliances
Riverbed continues to lead the board for Packet Capture Appliances as IT Pros voted them Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support leader for the second year in as many surveys. NetScout was voted runner-up in all segments with Viavi finished third.

Citrix
Software ADC
After a year hiatus in 2019, Citrix has regained the Market title for Software ADC, making this their sixth Market leader recognition. Citrix controlled the rest of board as IT Pros also voted them the leader for Price, Performance, Reliability, Innovation and Service & Support. F5, last year’s Market leader, was voted second all around. Fortinet was voted third for Market.

IT Brand Leader Surveys
IT Brand Pulse awards are the symbols for brand leadership. Winners are voted by global IT pros in surveys that are independent, non-sponsored research.  The surveys are designed to measure the pulse of brand leadership in specific product categories. Within each product category, respondents choose the overall Market Leader, as well as the leader in Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Voters are provided with a category description at the start of each product section, a randomized choice of vendor answers, and the ability to write in a vendor, if not listed.

Global IT Pro respondents to recent surveys include:  
American Airlines – American Express – Adobe Systems – Advocate Health Care  – Aetna – AF Group – Air Force Space Command – Allstate – AT&T – BAAQMD – Bank of America – Beckman Coulter – Boeing – Baylor College of Medicine – Bosch – Boston Scientific – Brinker International – CA Department of Insurance – Capital Group – Caesars Entertainment – Celanese Corporation – Citibank – City of Los Angeles – Combined Insurance – Coca-Cola  – Colliers – Comcast – Cox Enterprises – CPS Energy – Daiwa Capital Markets – Dana Foundation – Daybreak Game Co. –  Disney – DLL Group – Dow Corning Corp – Duke University – Edmunds – Encore Capital Group – EnerCare – Ensco – Exelon Corp. – ExxonMobil – EY – FedEx – First Acceptance Corp. – Four Seasons –  Franklin Templeton – General Electric – General Motors – Great-West Life – GWDG – HCSC – Kaiser Permanente – Kingston – LANL – Library of Congress  – Lockheed Martin – LRZ – Michael Kors – MIT IS&T –  Morgan Stanley – NASA Ames Research Center – NIH – NBC/Universal/Comcast – NCR – Optum – Orbital ATK – Polycom, Inc. – Quicken Loans – Raytheon – Ricoh – Ryanair  – Schindler Elevator Corp. Shaw Industries – Siemens Corp. –  Snyder’s-Lance  – Spectrum Brands – Stanford University – Staples – Starbucks – States of AL CT, LA and MT – Time Warner – TMZ – Torchmark – Tiger Corporation – T-Mobile – UCLA – United Health Group – U.S. Dept. of Labor  – U.S. Navy – UPS – Veolia – Verizon – Walmart – Weizmann Institute of Science – West Pharmaceutical Services – Yale – Yazaki…and many more.

About IT Brand Pulse
IT Brand Pulse is a trusted source of research, data and analysis about private, public and hybrid cloud IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking and operating platforms. Learn more at itbrandpulse.com.

CONTACT:
Samantha Griffin
Manager, Brand Leader Research
IT Brand Pulse
949-713-2313