Manufacturer launches media campaign to sell digital LAN switches to home market

A Canadian subsidiary of a multinational switch manufacturer has launched a high-profile advertising campaign to convince consumers that the time is ripe to install a digital network in their homes. D-Link Networks Inc of Oakville ON distributed a 16-page glossy insert in the Globe and Mail this month promoting its series of network switches. The company had advertised in specialty publications but was disappointed with the response, says D-Link's sales director, John Herrington. "Our business is changing quickly, networking is going into the home," he explained to Network Letter. "We felt that publications like newspapers would be a nice change for us." In February, the firm included a larger magazine insert in the Globe advertising ADSL and DSL technology. A more consumer-oriented insert is planned for the Toronto Star in a few weeks. Advertising in Montreal and Vancouver is also expected, and the firm is looking to purchase spots on Dave Chalk's computer television show. The parent company was founded in 1986. Herrington estimates that in the last two and a half years, the Canadian operation has grown from a $5 million company to a company roughly 10 times that size. The June insert began with a fable about a school with an outdated computer network. A teacher acting as network manager laments the fact that delivery was lagging behind bandwidth needs. Options offered in the story included upgrading from Ethernet to ATM, FDDI or Fast Ethernet. The solution presented was a LAN switch. Herrington says it is no coincidence that a school was used in the promotion. "I think education certainly has been one of our mainstays over the last few years and one of the reasons we've grown so quickly," he says. "There's not too many school boards that we haven't targeted and implemented our product into." D-Link, he says, is one of the lowest costing network vendors, a fact that places it at an advantage over competitors like 3Com Corp. Recent cutbacks in education funding mean schools at all levels have to be price sensitive. In addition, many institutions have multiple segments, requiring products for the classroom as well as for various administrative departments. "Our sales people target and spend 80 per cent of their time talking to what we call GEM - government, education and medical facilities and institutions - as well as small- to medium-sized business," Herrington says. "So our sales people spend most of their time talking to the end user and working with the resellers in implementing that technology and that solution." Herrington estimates that 65 to 70 per cent of D-Link's market is resellers, but that is changing. The firm is now pursuing areas that resellers tend to ignore, such as its line of Universal Serial Bus products. D-Link also makes network interface cards (NICs) for high-speed Internet connections, and sells to clients like Bell Canada, Telus and smaller telcos and cablecos. "This year alone we'll sell well over 300,000 NICs for at home or high-speed Internet access. That component of our business is literally growing 400-500 per cent a year." Herrington is excited by the prospects that open up through the expansion of home networking. The company is targeting the segment of the market that needs more bandwidth in the home. Outside vendors, like telcos and cablecos, are realizing this as well and are approaching D-Link about supplying technology to them."There's two technologies - home PNA, as well as traditional networking technology," he explains. "With traditional, you've got two cards and a little hub and you wire it using category 5 cable. The other technology is home PNA. You don't need to physically wire the two cards together. You use your existing home phone line to connect two or more PCs. There's a kit available out there today that retails for about $179 that allows you to use that technology. If you went with traditional networking products you could purchase a kit for as low as $99 today which would allow you to hook two PCs and share your services." D-Link markets the kits through resellers and through commercial outlets such as Business Depot.

Manufacturer launches media campaign to sell digital LAN switches to home market

News | 06/19/2000 4:00 am EDT

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