MSPs Face Highly Fragmented Network Hardware Market

New report documents a challenging degree of vendor diversity on MSP-managed networks

Ebook cover - Managing Network Vendor Diversity

WATERLOO, ON / August 28, 2018 — The network hardware market is highly fragmented, with hundreds of equipment vendors vying for market share, says a new report from Auvik Networks.

There’s intense competition in the network switch, router, firewall, and access point hardware markets, with upwards of 40 vendors competing in each category. A handful of industry heavyweights account for most of the devices on MSP-managed networks, while dozens and dozens of smaller vendors battle over the bottom 20% of the market.

  • The most crowded network device category is switches, with 102 vendors competing for a presence on MSP-managed networks.
  • The network vendor most commonly deployed on MSP-managed networks is Cisco (including Cisco-owned Meraki) with 36.2% of devices. HP (including HP-owned Aruba) is the second most common vendor, with 19.6% of devices.
  • The top 9 most commonly deployed vendors across all device categories—Cisco, HP, Meraki, Ubiquiti, SonicWALL, Aruba, Ruckus, Dell, and NETGEAR—claim around 80% of the market.

The report also highlights the diversity of network hardware MSPs are responsible for managing.

  • More than three-quarters of MSPs manage four or more network vendors across their client base.
  • The most diversified MSPs manage upwards of a staggering 20 different network vendors.
  • Large networks generally have more vendors represented than small networks.

“These findings underscore the difficulties IT service providers face in trying to standardize a hardware stack across their client portfolio,” says Alex Hoff, VP of product and sales at Auvik Networks. “This diversity can drag on an MSP’s efficiency, and ultimately their profitability, since it challenges their ability to scale.”

The report, titled Managing Network Vendor Diversity: The MSP Challenge, is based on data from close to 100,000 network devices deployed across nearly 17,000 networks under the care and management of about 1,000 MSPs. To download a copy of the free report, visit www.auvik.com/networkdiversity.

Auvik is cloud-based network monitoring and management software that helps MSPs efficiently manage their client networks—no matter which vendors or devices are deployed. Auvik’s software currently supports more than 15,000 different device models.

About Auvik Networks
Auvik makes network management easier. By automating and simplifying network management, our cloud-based software improves the efficiency and capacity of IT teams and helps protect their business from network risk. Auvik is one of the fastest growing North American technology companies, and is winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50, Deloitte Fast 500, and was recognized as the #1 ranked Canadian company in the FT Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies list. Visit www.auvik.com or follow @AuvikNetworks on Twitter. Auvik is a registered trademark of Auvik Networks Inc.