The worldwide WLAN retail and enterprise market segments combined saw a year-on-year market growth of 12.4%, and a quarter-on-quarter growth of 11.6% in Q4 2010. The enterprise arm of the worldwide WLAN alone grew 30.8% last year, reaching $2.2 billion. The retail-class WLAN market began to stabilise compared to declines in previous quarters. In spite of economic concerns, consumer spending grew 11.1% quarter-on-quarter and 11.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2010. The rise in the market is attributed to the huge sale of smart mobile devices and the improved performance of networks are encouraging enterprises to upgrade, extend and replace their wireless infrastructures.
Cisco, Aruba and HP WLAN all boosted their revenue in 2010 compared to 2009; Cisco grew 43.4% from Q4 2009; Aruba had a 72.2% increase in Q4 2010 compared to 2009; and HP had a 22.4% year-on-year increase in Q4 2010.
