Polycom steals No. 1 spot from Cisco in WiFi phones

LONDON, UK: According to Infonetics Research, the WLAN infrastructure market, which includes independent and dependent access points and WLAN switches and controllers, sequentially increased in revenue but decreased in units shipped in 1Q08, evidence that higher-priced 802.11n products are now shipping in increasing volume.

Infonetics’ report, Wireless LAN Equipment and Phones, shows that worldwide WLAN equipment revenue hit $499 million in 1Q08, up 1 percent from the previous quarter, marginally beating the previous all-time high of 3Q07.

“The 802.11n products are now making a more marked impact on the wireless market overall, with vendors reporting an acceleration in 802.11n shipments in 1Q08,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for wireless and mobile devices at Infonetics Research.

“It looks like enterprise WiFi products will migrate from 802.11g to 802.11n as rapidly as 802.11b products migrated to 802.11g several years ago. Yes, enterprises would like to see a return on their 802.11g investments before making significant upgrades, but the speed benefits of 802.11n are undeniable, with adoption being driven by the increase in new notebooks and PDAs with embedded 802.11n,” he added.

Some report highlights:

* Cisco continues to dominate the worldwide WLAN equipment market, holding the #1 position in enterprise and service provider segments.

* The more closely fought contest is for positions #2 to #4, which will be contested by 3Com, Aruba, HP, Motorola and Trapeze in a battle of WLAN specialists versus integrated enterprise vendors.

* Worldwide revenue from WLAN switch and controller products declined 4 percent from the previous quarter, but is expected to grow at a strong 23 percent CAGR from 2007 to 2011.

* Worldwide enterprise single mode WiFi phone revenue dropped 13 percent in 1Q08 from 4Q07, largely due to a decreased shipment volume from previous market leader Cisco.

* Polycom claims the lead position in the worldwide WiFi phone revenue, knocking Cisco into second place for 1Q08.