Samsung Ready to Challenge Cisco

Samsung Electronics has started shipping a router designed for corporate users, part of a planned assault on a market long dominated by Cisco Systems, executives said Wednesday.

“By the year 2010, we are trying to get around 10 percent of the market share for the enterprise market,” said Hwan Woo Chung, vice president of Samsung’s Mobile WiMax Group, during the CommunicAsia exhibition in Singapore.

The addition of networking products for corporate users rounds out Samsung’s product line, which already includes cellular handsets and carrier networking products, Chung said. But the move puts the company in uncharted territory, addressing the needs of corporate customers, which differ from those in the consumer and operator markets where the company has traditionally played.

“We should learn a lot in the near future,” Chung said.

Samsung’s first corporate networking product, the Ubigate iBG3026, is billed as an “enterprise switch router” and combines the functions of a switch, router, voice-over-IP gateway and firewall, Chung said.

The rack-mountable iBG3026 is designed for mid-sized networks that support between 100 and 300 users. It is available now in South Korea and China, and will be available worldwide by the end of this year, Chung said. Detailed specifications are available online.

Samsung plans to sell additional networking products in the second half of the year, Chung said. The iBG2006 and iBG2016 will be targeted at smaller offices, supporting up to 50 users and from 50 to 100 users, respectively. During the second quarter of 2007, Samsung will introduce the iBG3046, which is designed for large corporate networks, with more than 300 users, he said.

Down the road, Samsung’s corporate networking products will add support for wireless technologies, Chung said

CommunicAsia runs through June 23.

-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)

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