Deployment of enterprise WLAN has hit a two year high, thanks to growth in western Europe and Asia Pacific, a new report has claimed.
Figures from IDC revealed the total WLAN market grew by 6.7 percent sequentially and year on year, with sales to enterprises growing by 9.4 percent. Consumer WLAN turned around two years of decline and grew by 3.1 percent compared to 2015.
The 802.11ac standard is now the market norm, accounting for 59.9 percent of shipments and 77.4 percent of revenue. Adoption has largely been driven by the enterprise sector, with the standard only accounting for 22.6 percent of consumer shipments and 51.3 percent of sales.
Nolan Greene, Senior Research Analyst, Network Infrastructure, at IDC, said: “Recognising the critical role that WLAN plays in IT’s mobility and digital initiatives, enterprises are committing to WLAN upgrades and refreshes. Even as global economic indicators are mixed, IDC believes that enterprises will continue to invest in robust WLAN infrastructure in order to compete effectively in the digital economy.”
Western Europe bounced back from a “tepid” first quarter to report sales growth of 13.6 percent in Q2. Spain, with growth of 46.7 percent, and Sweden, up 40.5 percent, were the best performing markets. Central and Eastern Europe had sales growth of 11.0 year on year, with Croatia (up 44.2 percent) and Romania (up 39.9 percent) key markets.
Petr Jirovsky, Research Manager, Worldwide Networking Trackers, IDC added: “EMEA experiencing robust growth across key countries and Asia Pacific excluding Japan continuing to perform well in 2Q16 helped lift the overall market to its best growth in some time. Nearly unilateral growth across regional markets speaks to the mission-criticality of WLAN for strategic initiatives in the enterprise.”