Buyers of Optical Components Eye Shorter Supplier Lists, New Study Finds Heavy Reading report shows that buyers want to deal with fewer vendors, even as the number of suppliers continues to grow NEW YORK, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Buyers of optical components are looking to reduce the number of suppliers with which they deal, even as the number of components vendors continues to balloon worldwide, according to a major new report released today by Heavy Reading (http://www.heavyreading.com/), the market research division of Light Reading Inc. The 2004 Optical Components Market Perception Study is based on an exclusive, invitation-only survey of more than 300 purchasers of optical components worldwide, representing more than 200 systems vendors, original equipment manufacturers, and systems integrators. The report includes full survey results of buyer attitudes toward the optical components market in general and their perceptions of 40 of the world's most important suppliers of optical components, including JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU), Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A), NEC Corp. (NASDAQ:NIPNY), and NTT Electronics (NYSE: NTT). The 2004 Optical Components Market Perception Study offers unique and valuable insight into the effects that the wrenching changes in the optical components supply chain over the past two years have had on buyer perceptions in this critical market. Key findings of the 57-page report include: -- Buyers of optical components want to reduce the number of vendors with which they deal. Just over 60 percent of survey respondents said they now buy components from six or more suppliers. About the same percentage of respondents said they would prefer to deal with no more than five different suppliers, with most seeing three to five vendors as the ideal source list. Those plans could have a major effect on smaller suppliers, which by some estimates now number more than 2,000 worldwide. -- Product reliability and product performance are the two most important factors influencing buyers' choices of optical components suppliers -- even more important than price. More than 54 percent of respondents said product performance was an essential factor in choosing suppliers, and more than 61 percent said product reliability was essential. -- Although big-name vendors are established as market leaders in the eyes of buyers, smaller suppliers do have significant mindshare in the market. JDS Uniphase and Agilent received the strongest name recognition and market leadership scores across the board, but several smaller vendors posted very strong results, including DiCon Fiberoptics and Gould Fiber Optics. Those results indicate that the market for optical components remains open for aggressive competitors -- even as buyers start to trim back their list of suppliers. -- China's optical component suppliers are struggling for market recognition in the West. With a few exceptions, component makers from China have low visibility among prospective customers -- even as more product activity and innovation are coming out of that nation. The 2004 Optical Components Market Perception Report costs $2,950, including full access to a searchable database of all results from the exclusive survey. For more information, or to request a free executive summary, contact: Dave Williams Sales Director, Heavy Reading 415-293-8470 Press/analyst contact: Dennis Mendyk Managing Editor, Heavy Reading 201-587-2154 About Heavy Reading Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software. DATASOURCE: Heavy Reading CONTACT: Dave Williams, Sales Director, +1-415-293-8470, , or Press/analyst - Dennis Mendyk, Managing Editor, +1-201-587-2154, , both for Heavy Reading Web site: http://www.heavyreading.com/

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