According to a recent report by research firm IDC, the combined consumer and enterprise wireless local area network (WLAN) market grew 9.2% year-over-year globally in the second quarter of 2014. The global enterprise WLAN segment increased 7.7% over the prior-year quarter and the global consumer WLAN segment witnessed 10.9% growth from the year-ago quarter.
The strong growth of both enterprise and consumer WLAN markets has become a new growth driver for wireless infrastructure developers. Major vendors which are likely to benefit from this market boom include Aruba Networks Inc. (ARUN), Ruckus Wireless Inc. (RKUS), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).
WLAN provides network connection over a short distance. While a traditional LAN uses network cabling to provide network communications, WLAN makes use of wireless mediums such as radio or infrared signals to establish network communications. A WLAN can be set up using a device called “access point.” The user can communicate with an access point using a wireless network adapter and can access the Internet.
A major thrust for the enterprise WLAN came from Latin America, which registered year-over-year growth of 35.4% in the discussed quarter. Brazil and Argentina leads the race in this region. Europe, the Middle East and Africa continue to grow at 20.7% year over year, on the back of strong demand from Western Europe.
The Asia Pacific region generated growth of 10.5% year-over-year due to strong showing in China, Japan and Australia. On the other hand, the enterprise WLAN market declined 1.2% in North America.
The consumer WLAN segment received a significant boost from the emerging markets of the Asia Pacific region, particularly from China. The Chinese consumer WLAN market registered a 36.9% growth in terms of revenues and a significant 81.3% in terms of unit shipment year over year. At present, after the U.S., China is the largest consumer WLAN market globally.
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