As networking speeds increase, it is more important than ever for organisations to select the right technology for the job at the right price-point.
Cost optimisation is crucial for businesses planning their networking infrastructure for the future and by choosing compatibles over original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products, organisations will make massive savings.
A report by Gartner in 2017 exposed that organisations are regularly overpaying for OEM branded optical transceiver components by a 50 percent mark-up or more, and this is still the case across the industry in 2019.
Uncovered in a new white paper from UK based ProLabs, OEM switch vendors do not manufacture optical transceivers, rather they source transceivers manufactured to MSA specifications from a global supply chain; the same supply chain used by third-party compatible suppliers. Considering this, and rigorous testing processes implemented by compatible vendors, ProLabs is urging organisations to make 2019 the year of the switch.
“A compatible solution is no longer a cheap solution. It is a realistic choice,” said Matt Pincus, managing director EMEA and India at ProLabs. “As the industry grows, more and more customers are seeing the light when it comes to utilising compatible products in their networking infrastructure. Every piece of kit that comes from our labs is quality assured and tested from initial programming to pack and send.”
Compatible optical components have been steadily making their mark on the industry, offering their customer base a rigorously tested and tailored product with up to a 70 percent saving on its OEM counter-parts.
“What we are offering to our customers,” Pincus added, “is a better-quality alternative to the OEM components their overheads expect. For many OEMs, the components they provide in this space are off the shelf and batch tested. Our products are thoroughly tested in their host environments, which ensures 100 percent compatibility with over 90 vendors and over 20,000 systems and growing.”
ProLabs’ range of compatible optical and copper transceivers, also includes multicoded variations, where a single transceiver programmed with a single part code, may be compatible with a number of leading OEM products, further simplifying the installation and management process for customers.
Controlling how ProLabs develops and fulfils its orders, the DTS follows all products – recording all necessary and notable information on the way – from beginning to end of the production process, from programming to labelling, testing, verifying and finally shipping.
What the DTS means in practice, is that transceivers are coded in-house and authenticated with the necessary OEM specification code, then labelled with a unique serial number and verified. Complete transparency offered and complete connectivity guaranteed.
With LightCounting reporting a respectable year-on-year growth in the third quarter of 2018 for the transceiver industry, the forecast for 2019 is bright, with the influence of compatible product providers set to grow.
For more information, please visit the Prolabs website
