The FINANCIAL -- The total worldwide end-user value of router, switch and wireless LAN shipments is forecast to grow from US$29.9 billion in 2013 to US$33.7 billion in 2018. Wireless LANs will remain the fastest growing segment, accounting for 18% of total value by the end of this period, up from 14%, according to Canalys, an independent analyst company.

"Wireless LAN investment continues to be driven by enterprises moving more of their campus and branch office networking budgets from fixed to wireless to support increasingly mobile-centric user device access at the LAN edge," said Matthew Ball, Canalys Principal Analyst. The transition to 11ac continued to accelerate during the first quarter of 2014, following the start of customer adoption in Q3 2013. Just over 10% of access point shipments were estimated to be 11ac. "The initial focus for deployments has been to support the growing number of certified 11ac smart phones, tablets and notebooks entering the workplace, as well as to increase the performance of existing environments with high densities of 11n clients. Deployments are beginning to move beyond the early adopter phase, which has been led by the education sector, into the broader enterprise and mid-market. This is being catalyzed by vendors expanding their 11ac access point portfolios with more entry level and affordable models," Ball added.



Controllerless solutions are also an important growth area, especially among mid-market and SMB customers, as well as highly distributed organizations. "These offer lower total cost of ownership due to the advantages of centralized management, with embedded virtualized controller software negating the need for local technical support resources and dedicated hardware," said Analyst Phill Pexton.



In Q1 2014, wireless LAN shipments increased 11% year on year to US$1.1 billion, but were down 8.4% sequentially, in line with typical seasonal trends. Cisco remained the market leader, accounting for 53% of shipments. But specialist vendors gained share, in particular Aruba Networks, Ruckus Wireless, Aerohive Networks and Ubiquiti Networks, all of which are capitalizing on growth in 11ac, controllerless solutions and service providers. Together, these vendors now represent 28% of shipments, up from 21% a year ago, according to Canalys.



Overall, growth this quarter was strongest among micro (39%) and small (17%) businesses, with medium-sized (12%) businesses also doing well. Together, these companies accounted for 37% of shipments. Large enterprises also increased (7%) and remain the biggest addressable segment, accounting for 53% of shipments. Service providers (17%) accounted for the remaining 10%, with many continuing to invest in expanding Wi-Fi hotspot coverage and cellular data offloading capabilities, particularly cable providers. Service providers are also evaluating analytics and location-based services to add value to their Wi-Fi services, including more targeted and contextual advertising. "The importance for vendors to establish strong propositions with 11ac, controllerless architecture and analytic location-based services is high, as these transitions are creating opportunities with enterprises and service providers re-evaluating their wireless LAN strategies," Pexton said.