The enterprise segment of the worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market continued its strong growth in the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22) with revenues increasing 17,1% year over year to $1,95-billion, according to results published in the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wireless LAN Tracker.
The 17,1% annualised growth builds on the enterprise WLAN market growing 20,4% in 2021 compared to 2020. Growth in the enterprise WLAN market continues to be driven by the latest WiFi standard, known as WiFi 6 or 802.11ax.
WiFi 6 access points made up 70,3% of the revenues in the Dependent Access Point (AP) segment and accounted for 59,3% of unit shipments within the segment. WiFi 5 products, also known as 802.11ac, made up the remaining balance of Dependent AP sales.
The consumer segment of the WLAN market declined 3,6% in 1Q22 with the quarter’s unit shipments declining 2,2% on an annualised basis. Adoption of WiFi 6 continues in the consumer segment of the WLAN market too: In 1Q22, WiFi 6 made up 31,4% of the market’s revenues, up from 28,2% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
“In the first quarter of 2022, enterprises around the globe continued to invest in WLAN technology as a key component of their network and digital transformations. Meanwhile, the WiFi 6 standard continues to be a significant driver of growth in the enterprise WLAN market as enterprises deploy in the newest WiFi technology,” says Brandon Butler, research manager: network infrastructure at IDC.
“After a rocky macroeconomic environment over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the enterprise WLAN market continues to be resilient as organizations invest in wireless connectivity.”
Cisco’s enterprise WLAN revenues increased 9,4% in 1Q22 to $810-million, giving the company market share of 41,5%, compared to market share of 39% in the previous quarter, 4Q21.
HPE-Aruba revenues rose 30,7% year over year in 1Q22, giving the company market share of 16,5%, up from 12,7% in 4Q21.
Ubiquiti enterprise WLAN revenues declined 8,4% in 1Q22, giving the company 7,1% market share in the quarter.
Huawei enterprise WLAN revenues rose 71,5% year over year in 1Q22, giving the company 4,6% market share.
H3C revenues increased 58,8% in 1Q22, giving the company market share of 4,3%.