Wireless LAN transitions: The second quarter was good to wireless local area network equipment, as shipments worldwide grew 12 percent over the seasonally slow first quarter, Infonetics Research reports. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Aruba continued to lead the segment. And while 90 percent of access points sold in Q2 were based on the 802.11n standard, the market also saw the first shipments of access points based on the 802.11ac standard. "The major event in the wireless LAN space this quarter was initial shipments of enterprise class 802.11ac access points, marking the beginning of another technology transition," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics. "But the impact of 802.11ac will be minor in 2013, and with the transition to 802.11n almost complete, growth rates have been cut in half in 2013," Machowinski adds. "Global wireless LAN equipment revenue grew 14 percent year-over-year in the 2nd quarter of 2013, versus growing almost 30 percent year-over-year in the 2nd quarter of 2012. Still, WLAN remains the fastest growing network equipment segment." Release
Cloud graduates to new growth phase: Public IT cloud services growth will outstrip the IT industry as a whole, with a compound annual growth rate of 23.5 percent predicted between 2013 and 2017, said IDC. Spending worldwide will grow from $47.4 million this year to $108 million by 2017, with the United States retaining the lead in market share. And there are signs that cloud computing is shifting from its initial phase into the next phase of large scale, solution- and user-driven growth. "The first wave of cloud services adoption was focused on improving the efficiency of the IT department," said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC. "Over the next several years, the primary driver for cloud adoption will shift from economics to innovation as leading-edge companies invest in cloud services as the foundation for new competitive offerings. The emergence of cloud as the core for new 'business as a service' offerings will accelerate cloud adoption and dramatically raise the cloud model's strategic value beyond CIOs to CXOs of all types." Release
Carrier Ethernet spending frenzy: Businesses in the United States spent more than $5.5 billion on Carrier Ethernet services in 2013, an Insight Research report says, and that amount will grow to about $13 billion by 2018. The reason? Metro Ethernet and Ethernet WAN are ubiquitous, with service providers and cable operators competing for business customers at small, medium and enterprise levels. "Ethernet services in the small to mid-sized business market is the fastest growing segment of this market, while wireless backhaul still commands the top segment," said Fran Caulfield, director of research at Insight. "Over the five-year forecast period we project a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 19 percent, with the highest growth levels in the next two years." Release