The overall switch market in 2013 is set to grow by about 0.3%  and  routing market by about 0.8%, compared to 2012 , according to IDC’s recently published Q3 Enterprise Networking tracker. 

While the more dynamic and the comparatively smaller WLAN market is set to grow by a whopping 36% for the same period.

“WLAN  market  seems  to  be  growing exponentially as the proliferation of smart  devices  coupled  with the need to be connected on the go has pushed the  demand  for  a  wireless last mile connection. The next generation .ac products  which  promise  to deliver gigabit speed in a secured environment coupled  with growing traction of BYOD concept is pegged to be the next big driver  in  the  wireless  market”,  said  Manoj  Iyer,  Market  Analyst, Enterprise networking.
 
The  switching  market  especially the low value, high volume Layer 2 unmanaged  switching  solutions  in  the 100mb/1g category took the maximum brunt of foreign currency fluctuation as an extremely cost conscious market couldn’t  absorb  the  rise  in  cost.  In contract to this, the high value switching  solutions  in  Layer  3 10g/40g saw encouraging growth and would continue  to  garner  demand  from  large  enterprises as firms continue to invest in making their networking infrastructure scalable to address future explosion of bandwidth demand.

“The  growth  percentage in absolute  terms in the LAN market is not very encouraging as the year saw a lot of challenges in terms of foreign currency  fluctuation in the midst of an economic turmoil. The demand for networking   is  however  imminent  considering  trends  like  data  center consolidation, server virtualization, web-based applications and continuous demand   for   security   with an  endeavour  to  improve  communication, collaboration  and productivity.“ said Venu Reddy , Director IDC Centre for Consultancy and Research.