Last time, I began relaying some key points from Gartner’s recent “Magic Quadrant” report. This time, let’s look at players other than Cisco and HP.

These are all listed as “Niche Players” and “Visionaries.” Interestingly, Force10 Networks makes an appearance - the first new entry into the LAN Magic Quadrant in years, the report notes - at the Visionary level, even though its products have so far focused at the high end of the market.

Force10 has trained its sights on 10 Gigabit Ethernet, but Gartner says it expects the company to round out its portfolio with line cards for server connections that should lower costs and make Force10’s products more appealing in data centers.

Report author Mark Fabbi says Enterasys scores well on completeness of vision with its security strategy, but he adds, “We are concerned about the continued decline in hardware and service revenue.” Still, Gartner expects revenue to pick up in coming months as this security strategy takes hold; any slide in revenue would raise questions about Enterasys’ viability, Gartner says.

Nortel’s biggest problem is at the corporate management level, as the company has been distracted with financial restatements and executive reshuffling. But Gartner stresses that Nortel’s products are “solid,” and the industry’s move to converged systems can only play to Nortel’s strengths.

Nortel is actually growing as quickly as HP and Cisco, Gartner notes, and the company is getting its marketing act together. “Companies considering an IP voice solution from Nortel should certainly consider Nortel as a data provider as well,” Fabbi writes.

Gartner describes Extreme Networks’ position as “stagnant.” Revenue growth is lagging behind the industry. Turnover among the company’s executives has resulted in “inconsistent performance in the field.” But the research firm also notes that Extreme has both strong products and a recognized brand - strengths the company could capitalize on.

Foundry Networks has long created a profitable business targeting “technology-oriented customers” with high performance and port density, Gartner notes. But does Foundry want to move out of this niche from a marketing standpoint? That seems to be unclear.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.