Enterprise Edge market has touched almost 3.5 billion in the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 2 percent compared to the year-ago period.
Enterprise Edge includes enterprise-class wireless LAN (WLAN), campus Ethernet switching equipment and related software.
Leading vendors in this category include Aerohive Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, Dell, Enterasys, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei Technologies, Juniper Networks, and Ruckus Wireless.
The growth of Enterprise Edge market is mainly driven by the demand for wireless LAN and Ethernet switching products.
For the first time in the industry enterprise-class 802.11ac wireless LAN products shipped for revenue in the second quarter of 2013, the report said.
“With new 802.11ac-compliant WLAN devices now shipping, enterprises are faced with the prospect of having to upgrade their cabling and campus Ethernet switches to satisfy the greater power and throughput requirements for these devices,” said Chris DePuy, vice president of Enterprise Edge research at Dell’Oro Group.
The research finds that much of the installed base of Ethernet switches that are 802.3af-capable may not be adequate to service 802.11ac wireless.
Newer switches have more power available, yet the throughput needs of 802.11ac may require multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports or even 10 Gigabit per second ports which may drive additional in-building cabling. This is because enterprises will be forced to develop specialized wiring and network systems that are separate from those previously shared with desktop wiring and switches, or else run 802.11ac at less than full capacity, DePuy said.
