Israel-based communications infrastructure vendor ECI Telecom has announced a partnership with a Chinese IT distributor in a bid to strengthen its foothold in China.
ECI, which specializes in optical fiber networking, had entered the China market in 1994, and its business in China had previously been limited to the Zhejiang and Yunnan provinces.
ECI hopes its partnership with ECS Technology, China’s second-largest IT distributor, will help expand its reach into the rest of China. Singapore-based ECS Technology has branches in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines Indonesia and Singapore, and services more than 22,600 channel partners across the region.
“ECS’s vast experience and market knowledge will allow ECI to further expand our presence in China,” said Chao Lin, president of ECI Telecom China.
worth $20 billion by 2015
Industry experts the Global Times spoke to were however, skeptical of ECI’s growth potential in China, due to the presence of Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE.
Market watchers, however, have pointed out that it will not be easy for ECI Telecom to gain a larger market share in China, given that industry heavyweights like Huawei and ZTE have already established their positions in the market.
Telecom operators are the biggest clients for optical networking technology vendors, but it is not easy to secure large contracts with them, said Yu Zhaojun, an industry analyst with research firm Frost & Sullivan in Shanghai.
Data from Ovum indicated Huawei and ZTE would top the 2011 list of APAC optical networking vendors, with 43% and 6% of sales respectively. ECI was ranked 5th in the region according to Ovum, with 5% of sales.