Polycom Steals #1 Spot from Cisco in Wi-Fi Phone Share

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reports that the wireless LAN infrastructure market, which includes independent and dependent access points and WLAN switches and controllers, sequentially increased in revenue but decreased in units shipped in 1Q08, evidence that higher-priced 802. 11n products are now shipping in increasing volume.

Infonetics' report shows that worldwide WLAN equipment revenue hit $499 million in 1Q08, up 1% from the previous quarter, marginally beating the previous all-time high of 3Q07.

"802.11n products are now making a more marked impact on the wireless market overall, with vendors reporting an acceleration in 802.11n shipments in 1Q08," said Richard Webb, directing analyst for wireless and mobile devices at Infonetics Research. "It looks like enterprise WiFi products will migrate from 802.11g to 802.11n as rapidly as 802. 11b products migrated to 802.11g several years ago. Yes, enterprises would like to see a return on their 802.11g investments before making significant upgrades, but the speed benefits of 802.11n are undeniable, with adoption being driven by the increase in new notebooks and PDAs with embedded 802.11n."

Other highlights from the report:

• Cisco continues to dominate the worldwide WLAN equipment market, holding the #1 position in enterprise and service provider segments
• The more closely fought contest is for positions #2 to #4, which will be contested by 3Com, Aruba, HP, Motorola and Trapeze - a battle of WLAN specialists versus integrated enterprise vendors
• Worldwide revenue from WLAN switch and controller products declined 4% from the previous quarter, but is expected to grow at a strong 23% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2007 to 2011
• Worldwide enterprise single mode WiFi phone revenue dropped 13% in 1Q08 from 4Q07, largely due to a decreased shipment volume from previous market leader Cisco
• Polycom claims the lead position in the worldwide WiFi phone revenue, knocking Cisco into 2nd place for 1Q08

Posted to the site on 27th June 2008