A newly released forecast report by networking and telecommunications industries analyst Dell’Oro Group projects enterprise-class wireless LAN (WLAN) market revenues to exceed $6.7 billion in 2018 -- over 70 percent greater than 2013 revenues.
Key trends for the market, according to the analyst, include the continued growth of both 802.11ac access points and faster-than-market growth of cloud-managed WLAN systems. The overall WLAN market is expected to reach $12.2 billion during the forecast time period.
“At this point, 802.11ac enterprise-class access points represent a greater portion of the overall market than 802.11n did in the previous cycle,” reveals Chris DePuy, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “The higher-speed 802.11ac devices are being priced at a lower premium to the slower 802.11n devices these intend to replace."
The report contains a forecast of cloud-managed equipment and services. Also included in the report are estimates on total Service Provider (SP) Wi-Fi units and revenue forecasts. "We expect next year, we will see new types of 802.11ac devices that support so-called ‘wave 2’ or ‘multi-user MIMO’ capabilities which will offer even faster throughput,” adds DePuy.
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Matt Vincent
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Matt Vincent is a B2B technology journalist, editor and content producer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in the full range of media content production and management, as well as SEO and social media engagement best practices, for both Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and its website CablingInstall.com. He currently provides trade show, company, executive and field technology trend coverage for the ICT structured cabling, telecommunications networking, data center, IP physical security, and professional AV vertical market segments. Email: [email protected]