Wireless LAN market to expand 45 percent by 2018

REDWOOD CITY, USA:  In a newly released market forecast report by Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, overall Wireless LAN market revenues are forecast to exceed $12.3 billion in 2018, over 45 percent greater than 2013 revenues. Key trends include the 802.11ac upgrade cycle, Small and Medium-sized Business (SMB) purchasing of enterprise-class infrastructure, cloud-managed Wireless LAN and Service Provider WiFi.

According to Chris DePuy, vice president at Dell'Oro Group: "While it is risky to say so, this upgrade cycle looks like it will be different.  New, higher-speed 802.11ac wireless systems are being offered at lower prices versus the now older 802.11n systems, and at a lower price premium than that of the prior upgrade cycle. We expect this to lead to robust adoption of 802.11ac devices by enterprises."

The report contains an analysis of the difference between customer deployment locations and equipment types, to address the changing buying behavior of SMBs. In this analysis, the report covers expectations for consumer, SMB, enterprise and service provider customer purchasing trends, and also tracks the proliferation of cloud-managed equipment. Also included in the report are estimates on total SP WiFi units and revenue forecasts, and an analysis.