While the use of Wi-Fi to offload 3G data traffic has just started in Latin America, wireless equipment manufacturer Ruckus Wireless is betting on increasing demand for more robust indoor Wi-Fi coverage. In an exclusive interview, the enterprise vertical director at Ruckus Wireless Latin America, Andre Queiroz said that companies are seeking “professional Wi-Fi network coverage” to better meet their customer’ demands.
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He also noted that the market has great potential. “Currently, only 20% of enterprises have indoor coverage. We believe it will reach 50% over next three or four years,” he said.
Each segment suffers different pressures. However, Queiroz listed large firms from the hospitality, education and event sectors that are pushing sales up since they are the most affected by client demands. “For example, hotel IT departments now have to plan a robust infrastructure to support huge data traffic because their customers want to access the Internet and want to have a good connection,” he said. The same standards are required by event and education businesses.
External factors also are contributing to the increased demand. Sales force automation, for instance, requires more connectivity which has a direct impact on network capacity as well as the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and consumerization phenomena. “There are not enough 3G networks to support all the increased data Internet traffic,” said Queiroz. “Wi-Fi will still be a hot topic for the corporate market over the next few years.”
Queiroz did not give precise market-size forecasts, but he cited the research firm Gartner when pointing out that this year might close with 9.5 million access points, a number that is expected to reach 16 million by 2015, a 24% growth.
As for Ruckus Wireless, the corporate market still accounts for the biggest share of the company’s total revenue, in both Latin America and global sales. “In the corporate market, we are the number 3 vendor in market share behind Cisco and really close to Aruba Networks,” he said.
Aruba Networks is also very interested in growing its Latin American business. In a recent visit to Brazil, Aruba CEO Dominic Orr said he expects the country to become one of the company’s five largest markets within the next three years.
