Xylan this week announced plans to capture more ground in the small to medium enterprise (SME) market, chasing what it describes as user demand for technology, not vendor hype.
David Keane, Xylan's Australasian managing director, announced the strategy in partnership with LAN Systems, which will distribute the products and build the SME customer base.
Keane refuted ComputerWorld's suggestions the strategy is an indication the company plans to neglect its high-end enterprise business, describing it as the company's "bread and butter".
"We are growing in the enterprise space," he said. "We see this as an opportunity to get market share [in SMEs]."
Keane described it as a "win by stealth" marketing approach, indicating the company refused to adopt a noisy public campaign. "[Users] want to buy technology that helps them run their business better," Keane said.
Key elements of the strategy include the offer of free Xylan switch specialist training with every purchase less than $30,000, and competitively priced switches, which the company claims are typically 15 per cent cheaper than those of its leading competitors.
Xylan's product line is based on the Omnistack 4024 and 5024 24-port switches, which the company reports offer similar functionality as its high-end enterprise switches as a reduced cost.