Wireless/5G

Report: WLAN market to surge 45% by 2018, spurred by rapid 802.11ac adoption

Jan. 20, 2014

Higher-speed 802.11ac wireless systems are now being offered at lower prices than older 802.11n systems, claims Dell'Oro Group.

Matt Vincent

In a new report, Dell’Oro Group forecasts overall wireless LAN market revenues to exceed $12.3 billion by 2018 -- over 45 percent greater than 2013 revenues.

According to the analyst, key trends responsible for the projected growth include the 802.11ac upgrade cycle, small and medium-sized business (SMB) purchasing of enterprise-class infrastructure, cloud-managed wireless LAN, and Service Provider WiFi (SP WiFi).

“While it is risky to say so, this upgrade cycle looks like it will be different,” reveals Chris DePuy, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “New, higher-speed 802.11ac wireless systems are being offered at lower prices versus the now older 802.11n systems, and at a lower price premium than that of the prior upgrade cycle. We expect this to lead to robust adoption of 802.11ac devices by enterprises.”

Dell’Oro Group's Wireless LAN Five-Year Forecast Report also contains an analysis of the difference between customer deployment locations and equipment types, to address the changing buying behavior of SMBs. In this analysis, the report covers expectations for consumer, SMB, enterprise and service provider customer purchasing trends, and also tracks the proliferation of cloud-managed equipment. Also included in the report are estimates on total SP WiFi units and revenue forecasts.

Learn more about the report.

About the Author

Matt Vincent | Senior Editor

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]