New employees’ need for connectivity has increased demand for wireless Internet infrastructure, and it is a global phenomenon. According to Infonetics Research, wireless local area network (WLAN) technology had a very good run the last couple of years, even outperforming wired LAN, and the WLAN market is now approaching U.S.$1 billion per quarter.
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As noted by Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research, the world is going wireless, and users expect fast, always-on connections where ever they are. Enterprises need to keep pace with this ever-increasing bandwidth demand, and the next generation of WLAN gear based on fast 802.11n, and soon 802.11ac, technology gives them a reason to upgrade.
As a consequence, enterprises are acquiring more WLAN equipment, boosting vendors’ income. Infonetics pointed out that global wireless LAN equipment and Wi-Fi phone sales grew 16% sequentially in 2Q12 to U.S.$993 million, driven by strong demand in North America as well as the education and retail verticals.
The Latin American region is following the same trend. In an exclusive interview, Reinaldo Opice, VP Latin America at Enterasys Networks, said that the healthcare and education verticals, as well as the BYOD (bring-your-own-device) trend, have pushed WLAN adoption across the region. “We saw an explosion of demand for WLAN in a short period of time. Hospitals have begun to deploy Wi-Fi networks not only to provide Internet for patients and visitors but also to support new equipment that physicians have been using,” he said.
Opice said that hospitals have had to improve their broadband connections 20 times to support demand for bandwidth. “Previously, it was only to support email, now it is for people who are streaming videos,” he said. In addition to expanding and improving broadband, Opice highlighted the need for security. “Hospitals or enterprises cannot use homemade solutions any more,” he said.
As a consequence of the increase in WLAN, the Central and Latin American WLAN equipment markets have been growing more than 40% each year over the last two years, and 2011 revenue came in at U.S.$113 million, according to Infonetics Research’s WLAN Equipment report. The consultant firm also noted that the CALA market is now back to pre-recession (2008) levels. The firm expects more tempered growth going forward, approximately 12% annually through 2016.
