Part of why NEC has been able to win contracts such as the ballet school is that NEC offers a "total solution" with a range of products and services, said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research Inc. in Boston. For communications technology, Cisco Systems Inc. and Avaya Inc. are battling for first place, while Nortel is third and NEC is part of a group of companies ranking fourth and below that are fiercely competitive, Kerravala said.