Global wireless local area network (WLAN) market segment registered a year-over-year growth of 20.7% to reach $1.35bn (excluding WLAN NICs) in 1Q 2011and registered a drop of 5% quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter of 2011, according to a new report by IDC.
The report highlighted that the enterprise WLAN market showed continued strength although growth moderated a bit with a 20.3% year-over-year revenue increase, while sequentially the market declined by 8.8%.
In the retail-class, WLAN market continued to stabilise from previous quarterly declines, and registered a strong growth rate of 21% year-over-year to reach $751m in 1Q 11 while sequentially, the retail-class segment declined 2.8%.
However, the research firm said that dropping prices and increased consumer interest in networked home entertainment applications will continue to support this segment going forward.
Cisco’s enterprise WLAN revenue grew by 20.7% year-over-year but declined by 14.4% quarter-over-quarter in 1Q11.
The report said Cisco’s Linksys consumer division lagged the market with WLAN revenue growing 7.2% year-over-year, and was down 5.9% quarter-over-quarter.
Aruba registered an exceptional year-over-year growth of 85.7% in 1Q11, including OEM revenues.
However, for 1Q11, HP’s WLAN revenue grew less than the enterprise WLAN market at 14.4% year-over-year and declined 14.0% sequentially over the previous quarter.
IDC enterprise communications infrastructure director Rohit Mehra said the continued strength in the WLAN market in the first quarter of 2011 was encouraging with all regions and both the enterprise and retail-class market segments making a contribution.
"The tremendous momentum behind smart mobile devices and their continued uptake in the enterprise for business applications are driving enterprises to move forward with upgrades, extensions, and replacements of their wireless infrastructures," Mehra said.
