New high of $4 bn for wireless LAN market in 2012

BANGALORE, INDIA: Global WLAN revenue, including enterprise access points, WLAN controllers and WiFi phones, grew four per cent in 4Q12 from 3Q12, to $1.1 billion. The demand for WLAN is global: All major geographic regions, even beleaguered EMEA, grew by double digits in 2012, as per market research firm Infonetics Research.

"The wireless LAN market racked up another year of 20-plus per cent growth, topping $4 billion in annual revenue in 2012, a new high," reports Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics. "WLAN continues to shine as enterprises build out their wireless capabilities to take advantage of new devices and ubiquitous connectivity."

Eighty eight per cent of access points shipping today are based on 802.11n; next-gen 802.11ac products will start shipping in April 2013, ushering in the next technology transition.

After years of languishing, outdoor access point shipments jumped 88 per cent in 2012, propelled by service provider WiFi deployments. WLAN market leader Cisco added over 1.5 points of revenue market share in 2012, a remarkable feat for a vendor this size. Aruba, the only other WLAN vendor with double-digit revenue share, added almost a point of share in 2012.

As the economy continues to rebound, Infonetics anticipates that companies will upgrade their core communication infrastructure, sparking growth of WiFi phones.