(iTers News) - Powered by a proliferation of mobile devices like smart phones and tablte PCs, global WLAN markets for consumers and enterprises grew 10.8% year over year in the second quarter of 2013 , market research firm IDC reported today.
According to the preliminary estimates IDC, the enterprise segment increased 14.8% over the same period last year, still remaining one of the fastest growing networking markets out there. The consumer WLAN market performed well in 2Q13, too, growing 6.5% year over year.
"Across all verticals and geographies, enterprise IT continues to see an explosion of mobility applications running on more devices than ever, resulting in new investments in WLAN infrastructure," said Rohit Mehra, Vice President,Network Infrastructure. "While growth slowed slightly this quarter compared to previous quarters, the growing mobility needs of education, retail, healthcare, and other distributed enterprise segments will continue to fuel substantial growth in the overall enterprise WLAN market."
North America followed with a 14.9% year over year increase. Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) grew 6.4% year over year in 2Q13, weaker than the other major regions but still positive and an improvement as macroeconomic conditions continue to gradually improve.
Cisco crowns enterprise WLAN market
"Although regional and country-level WLAN growth trends varied widely in 2Q13, the worldwide outlook for the enterprise, service provider, and consumer segments remains optimistic due to highly anticipated network upgrade cycles," said Petr Jirovsky, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Networking Trackers Group.
A breakdown of the Q2 performances by company shows Cisco saw grew 16.7% year over year in its sales of WLAN solutions to enterprise markets. Cisco’s 2Q13 enterprise WLAN revenue reached a record $581 million in the quarter. The North American market was especially strong for Cisco this quarter and now accounts for 58.4% of worldwide revenue, up from 48.8% in 1Q13. Cisco's worldwide market share stands at 53.7% in 2Q13, its highest share since 4Q10. Aruba excluding its OEM business witnessed its enterprise revenue grow 13.6% year over year in the second quarter, which was, in essence, on par with the overall market and an improvement over the 8.5% year-over-year increase Aruba experienced in 1Q13. Aruba now holds 11% of the enterprise WLAN market.
HP's overall enterprise WLAN revenue increased 17.7% year over year in 2Q13 and reached $65.7 million in 2Q13. This was a noticeable improvement in annual growth when compared to HP's results for the last few quarters. As a result, HP's market share increased to 6.0% of the market in 2Q13, up from 5.4% in 1Q13. Ruckus grew a solid 37.3% year over year in 2Q13 and now accounts for 5.5% of the overall market.