Sales of small and medium networking equipment vendors are expected to break the 100 billion won (approximately 100 million dollars) mark this year, which has been seen as a major threshold for competition with large multinational vendors.
Corecess joined the 100 billion-won club in 2002 on strong export shipments. The success was short-lived, however, and this year is expected to mark the year of the full launch of 100 billion-won club.
On the forefront are Dasan Networks, Comtech System and U-Base. Dasan Networks is optimistic about sales of 120 billion won for this year, after reporting sales of 93.4 billion won, net profit of 17.9 billion won, ordinary profit of 10.2 billion won and operating profit of 7 billion won for the first three quarters of this year versus sales of 87.5 billion won and net profit of 10.8 billion won for last year.
U-Base, which posted sales of 98 billion won last year, is also expected to top the 100 billion won sales mark this year, a rare advance to the 100 billion won club as an outsourcing manufacturer. Comtech System estimates sales to be around 125 billion won and net profit of 3 billion won for this year. The company also reported sales of 133.6 billion won last year, a feat offset by loss of 9.8 billion won.
Dasan Networks` advance to the 100 billion club came after the sell-off deal with multinational vendor Siemens. The company paid off all the debt, and is now devoting resources to research and development.
Comtech System is fast expanding into the manufacturing area fromthe existing network integration, avoiding overheated competition and putting more focus on profitability. It has rolled out a wide range of solutions used for financial service, security, IP telephony and satellite broadcasting by leveraging its NI technology, and also introduced a series of new products including L2 switches, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and QoS equipment. The company is also poised to unveil a midrange router to compete with multinational vendors.
U-Base has set up the country`s largest call center, successfully achieving the economy of scale. The company invested in service improvement when rivals were mostly in overheated race to win contracts. Its `Wing` computer repair and upgrade service for individual consumers has become a major money-making business model for the company.