Compatibles are king for 2019

A report by Gartner in 2017 exposed that organisations are regularly overpaying for OEM branded optical transceiver components by a 50% mark-up or more, and this is still the case across the industry in 2019.

Hoping to lead the way in changing the mindset on compatibles is ProLabs, UK based specialists in compatible connectivity.

Uncovered in a new whitepaper, 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% saving on its OEM counter-parts.

Pincus added: “What we are offering to our customers, is a better-quality alternative to the OEM components their overheads expect. For many OEM’s, 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% compatibility with over 90 vendors and over 20,000 systems and growing.”

ProLabs’ extensive 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.