The overall market, which hit just under $870 million worldwide in 3Q07, was led by strong sales in the enterprise and consumer segments, both up in the double-digits, the report shows.
“The third quarter was a good one for wireless LAN equipment manufacturers, particularly Cisco,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for wireless at Infonetics Research. “Cisco leads across all 3 segments of the market—consumer (through its Linksys division), enterprise, and service provider—and has an increasingly dominant position that looks unassailable, though other players such as Aruba Networks continue to improve their performance in the enterprise segment quarter on quarter.”
Other highlights from the report:
The number of enterprise single-mode WiFi phones sold is up 51% sequentially, and manufacturer revenue is up 37%
The number of embedded and standard WiFi NICs is up 8% sequentially
Manufacturer revenue for wireless LAN switches and controllers is forecast to triple between 2006 and 2010
All regions showed double-digit revenue growth in the WLAN equipment market: North America is up 16%, EMEA is up 15%, Asia Pacific 11%, and CALA 13%
The cycle of upgrade purchasing, driven by 802.11n, is slowly starting and will continue over the next several years
Infonetics’ WLAN report tracks WLAN independent APs, dependent APs, wireless broadband routers, outdoor bridges, WLAN switches & controllers, standard and embedded WiFi NICs, and enterprise single-mode WiFi phones. WLAN hardware revenues are broken out by consumer, enterprise, and service provider customers. Forecasts and market share are updated quarterly.