First Enterprise-Class Wi-Fi 7 AP Sold with Wi-Fi 6E Adoption Still Growing
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – August 31, 2023 – According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, H3C was the first major manufacturer to recognize revenues for commercially available, enterprise-class Wi-Fi 7 Access Points (APs). Overall Wireless LAN market revenue grew to nearly $3B during the second quarter of 2023. The two industry leaders, Cisco and HPE, together gained 5 points in four-quarter trailing market share.
“This is the 7th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year (Y/Y) growth for the enterprise-class WLAN industry,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Pent-up demand for digital transformation, an appetite for the new 6GHz frequency band, and loosening supply constraints are creating the perfect conditions for rapid revenue expansion.
“Future results will be affected by a geographic divergence in new technology adoption. The vendors in China have taken an early lead in developing Wi-Fi 7 APs. Outside China, adoption of Wi-Fi 6E is expanding, but still only represents 7 percent of the Indoor APs being shipped. The adoption of more devices supporting the 6E standard, further harmonization of worldwide regulations, and approval of Standard Power APs in the US should help accelerate Wi-Fi 6E revenues. We are watching these trends closely, as we expect market conditions to become more competitive in 2024,” continued Morgan.
Additional highlights from the 2Q 2023 Wireless LAN Quarterly Report:
- Revenues were fueled by both higher unit shipments and higher Y/Y prices.
- Manufacturers are predicting different rates of backlog decline, meaning revenues could be choppy in 2024.
- In 2Q 2023, Public Cloud Managed revenues bypassed $1 B for the first time.
- More vendors are expected to begin selling Wi-Fi 7 APs later this year.
The Dell’Oro Group Wireless LAN Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Enterprise Outdoor and Indoor markets, Wireless LAN Controllers and Licenses, with tables containing manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments by the following wireless standards: 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6 and 6E [6 GHz]), 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) Wave 1 vs. Wave 2, 802.11n, and historic IEEE 802.11 standards. The Enterprise market is portrayed by Public Cloud vs. Premises and Private Cloud deployments, by geographic region, as well as by ten Vertical markets. To purchase these reports, please contact us by email at dgsales@delloro.com.
Dell’Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center infrastructure markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell’Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com.
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