Responses to this question were similar to the preceding questions, with NEC and Cisco virtually tied for the highest grades. Siemens, Mitel, and Avaya were closely graded to round out the top tier. Nortel placed a strong third, followed by Avaya, Mitel, and Siemens. The latter supplier received far more No Answer responses than the other top tier suppliers, a reflection that its market presence diminished during the most of the past year while its corporate parent was desperately seeking a buyer for the enterprise communications unit. The second tier as a whole received far fewer graded responses than the top tier; ShoreTel and Interactive Intelligence received the highest grades among these six.
Avaya received the highest grades for overall portfolio and for each of the succeeding questions re a specific portfolio product/application element. I personally agree that Avaya has the strongest overall portfolio among its competitors, based, as one consultant noted, "(on) product depth and performance capabilities." In my opinion Avaya has few, if any, significant product gaps or weaknesses.
Nortel came in second, proving that despite its financial difficulties, it still has a strong product portfolio as reflected by its grades. NEC, Mitel, and Cisco received comparable grades. A consultant's comments re the latter: "Cisco is rated less than excellent due to the fact that most peripheral applications still require a separate server and admin interface. Until they integrate more apps 'under the skin' with a single admin interface, their product will be overly expensive, overly space intensive, and difficult to administer."
Siemens' grades do not properly reflect its current product portfolio capabilities, indicating better marketing communications is needed to get the word out to consultants. Interactive Intelligence and ShoreTel both received higher grades than Alcatel Lucent despite narrower portfolios targeted at more highly focused markets. There is no reason for Alcatel Lucent to receive these grades after close to a decade in the North American market--other than poorly executed marketing programs or a too-lax approach to the local market in general. I'm of the opinion that it’s a combination of both. It sometimes feels Alcatel Lucent has been hanging around the North American market for appearances, only. That 3Com received the lowest grades of all system suppliers is not surprising, because several of its application offers are third party solutions
Avaya easily received the top grades from the consultants, as more than two thirds rated their IP telephony solution as Excellent, while no other system supplier received more than half Excellent ratings. Cisco placed a strong second, comfortably ahead of Siemens, Nortel, Mitel, and NEC (in descending order). ShoreTel and Interactive Intelligence also received good grades. Alcatel Lucent’s grades were disappointing, considering the strength of their product offering. For purposes of the survey, perception usually overrides reality. Toshiba was the only system supplier who failed to receive at least one Excellent rating.
Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, and Nortel had the strongest grades for their IP telephone portfolio, each receiving at least one third Excellent ratings from the consultants. NEC’s and Siemens' grades were good, but probably deserved to be on par with the higher rated system suppliers. NEC’s DT700 models were announced a few months ago and the consultants are likely not yet familiar with some of their unique and enhanced capabilities.
A surprising one-fourth of the responding consultants for this question did not rate the Siemens' IP telephones, although these were introduced during 2007; based on the design and performance attributes of the OpenStage models, Siemens should have received far better ratings. ShoreTel deservedly received the best grades among the remaining systems suppliers: they substantially improved their IP telephone portfolio during the past two years.
