Analyst firm Dell'Oro Group announced the WLAN market saw an 11 percent revenue decline for the first quarter, the worst since the firm began tracking that market in 2002.
The enterprise is to blame as analyst Ben Kwan said that sector is still coping with a bad economy and an inability to budget for WLAN purchases. However, the 802.11n equipment sector saw growth at 4 percent sequentially from the fourth quarter 2008. Moreover, 802.11n routers made up a majority of the WLAN market as enterprises and consumers embrace the faster standard, despite the extra expense.
Still, overall WLAN unit shipments fell sequentially in all regions of the global, falling more than 15 percent worldwide. WLAN giant Cisco saw its market share in the enterprise segment fall from 63.1 percent from the first quarter 2008 to 60 percent in same period this year. Kwan said consolidation is making Cisco's competitors stronger.
Still, WLANs are selling better than a lot of other network products, such as wired Ethernet switches. WiFi, mostly the 802.11n flavor, is replacing wired LANS in many industries such as education and health care.
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