Enterprise Wireless Slows in Q1 as K-12 Schools Await Funding
Growth of the wireless local area network (WLAN) enterprise market in the
first quarter of 2015 slowed significantly compared to preceding quarters but still
increased 3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014, according to a new report.
IDC's Worldwide
Quarterly WLAN Tracker covers the size and vendor share of the enterprise
and consumer WLAN markets in major regions around the world. According to IDC,
growth of the enterprise WLAN market in the first quarter was the slowest it
has been in recent years, and IDC attributes that slow-down to two factors. One
contributing factor is the weak public sector and Asia-Pacific markets. The
other is that K-12 public schools are delaying WLAN purchases until they
receive funding through the government's E-rate
program, which helps public schools and libraries pay for telecommunications
services.
The tracker shows that 40 percent of dependent access point shipments and 55
percent of revenues can be attributed to adoption of the latest WLAN standard,
802.11ac, and, according to IDC, organizations are making the switch to 802.11ac
at a much faster rate than they did to the previous standard, 802.11n. Wireless
equipment manufacturers have begun releasing 802.11ac Wave 2 products, which
implement the full standard, and, as a result, IDC said it expects 802.11ac to become
predominant by 2016.
"From education to healthcare to large enterprise, the increasing preference
for wireless network access will continue to be seen, especially as emerging
Wave 2 802.11ac will enable more applications to move to wireless," said Nolan
Greene, research analyst of network infrastructure at IDC, in a prepared
statement.. "While seasonality and the future release of E-rate funding slowed
growth in the first quarter of 2015, we expect 802.11ac's momentum to once
again boost the market in subsequent quarters."
IDC expects the release of E-rate funding in the second quarter of 2015 to
have a positive effect on the WLAN market in the United States.
Further information about the Worldwide Quarterly WLAN Tracker can be found
on IDC's
site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].