The global market for consumer and enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) fell 0.8 percent to $2.15 billion in the first quarter of 2017, said IDC.
The enterprise WLAN segment grew 4.4 percent to $1.24 billion as compared to 8.6 percent growth in Q1 2016.
Demand for network refreshes, digital transformation (DX) initiatives, and the maturation of Wave 2 802.11ac are positive indicators for stronger growth in 2017.
The 802.11ac standard accounts for 70.9 percent of access point unit shipments and 84.7 percent of dependent access point revenues – indicating a continued trend of 802.11n obsolescence.
Consumer WLAN market revenue fell 7 percent to $913.0 million. 802.11ac standard accounted for 28.6 percent of shipments and 58.2 percent of revenue in the consumer category. Revenues from 802.11ac increased 17.6 percent and shipments rose 48.5 percent.
“A soft start to 2017 suggests uncertainty ahead for the enterprise WLAN market,” said Nolan Greene, senior research analyst, Network Infrastructure at IDC.
Enterprise WLAN vendors
Cisco’s WLAN revenue increased 0.2 percent for a market share of 43.4 percent, down from 43.6 percent in Q4 2016, and 45.2 percent in Q1 2016.
WLAN revenue of Aruba-HPE increased 5.4 percent sequentially. Aruba-HPE’s market share stands at 16.2 percent against 13.5 percent in Q4 2016.
Ubiquiti’s WLAN revenue rose 47.5 percent, accounting for 6.1 percent of the market against 5.2 percent in Q4 2016 and 4.3 percent in Q1 2016.
Brocade-Ruckus declined 22.1 percent, grabbing 5.7 percent share as compared with 5.1 percent in Q4 2016 and 7.7 percent in Q1 2016.
Huawei achieved 229.7 percent growth in WLAN revenue, while claiming 3.7 percent market share, up from 1.2 percent in Q1 2016.
