WLAN gear sees rare down quarter: Infonetics

BANGALORE, INDIA: Global wireless LAN (WLAN) market, including enterprise access points, WLAN controllers, and WiFi phones, declined seven per cent sequentially in 1Q13, to $1 billion, as per market research firm Infonetics Research.

"As we've cautioned before, growth in the WLAN market is slowing as the transition to 802.11n winds down and buyers await the arrival of 802.11ac products," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research. "Even so, WLAN remains a bright spot in the networking industry, and is up 18 per cent year-over-year in 1Q13, driven by more wireless devices, mobility, and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement."

Despite the dip, WLAN equipment revenue remains on a double-digit year-over-year growth trajectory for the 14th quarter in a row. Independent access point shipments are down nearly 50 per cent in an otherwise growing market, illustrating the shift toward centrally managed WLAN architectures.

#1 Cisco and #2 Aruba are the only WLAN vendors with double-digit revenue market share; the 3-spot is a race between HP, Motorola, and Ruckus.