WLAN - The need for last-mile wireless connectivity will influence WLAN growth 

The need for last-mile wireless connectivity will influence WLAN growth 

The fourth quarter of 2016 (4Q16) saw the combined consumer and enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market segment decreasing 0.1 per cent year over year. However, it increased 3.1 per cent for the full year, thus finishing at $2.43 billion. The enterprise segment grew 3.1 per cent year over year in 4Q16 to reach $1.41 billion, and 7.2 per cent for the full year 2016 reaching $5.4 billion. The Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) market saw the maximum 4Q16 growth by having grown to 22.7 per cent year over year in 4Q16 and 21.7 per cent for the full year 2016. Cisco with its largest share continued to be dominant in Q4 2016 with 65.74-per cent market share, followed by Huawei and HPE. Due to increased investments in the enterprise space, Avaya too has posted a significant growth in the quarter.
 
Key Takeaways: Digital transformation efforts contintue to grow the market with vendors competing against each other to addrress the emerging segments that includes opportunities like smart cities and IoT. As in the previous years, the WLAN market is expected to grow on the back of increasing number of hand devices coupled with the need to be connected for a wireless last-mile connection.
 
Key Vendors: Cisco, HPE-Aruba, Huawei, Ubiquiti and others including D-Link, Ruckus, Netgear, Cambium Networks, Extreme Networks, TP-Link, Digisol, ATI, Zebra.