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Adtran/Bluesocket Deal Is A Potential Network Game Changer: Page 2 of 2

According to the latest report from Dell'Oro Group, the WLAN market leaped 18% in the first quarter of 2011, with Aruba and HP demonstrating the fastest enterprise growth over last year. "While down on a sequential basis, the enterprise WLAN segment exhibited a growth rate of 22% year-over-year, reaching $573 million in revenues for the quarter," says Loren Shalinsky, senior analyst of wireless LAN research at Dell’Oro Group.

IDC says the global WLAN market came in just under $5 billion in 2010, growing 12.4% for all segments, with the enterprise segment leading the way up 34.9% year-over-year. It says the tremendous momentum behind smart mobile devices and the continued proliferation of higher-performance 802.11n networks are driving enterprises to move forward with upgrades to and extensions and replacements of their wireless infrastructures.

As significant as the technology upgrade cycle under way for 802.11n, as well as the mobility explosion, it was the requirement to scale that drove Adtran to Bluesocket, says Bolton. "Cloud virtualization changes everything, ... and if you look at scalability as one of the most critical parts of the network ... scale is paramount.”

Bolton agrees with Kerravala that execution will be key, and that the companies don't have an infinite window to take advantage of this storm. "We're hitting the ground running, and already holding integration road map meetings right now. We will be launching the first phase of our WLAN in the next few weeks." Looking ahead, it's not just about seamless networking for both wired and wireless, but also about virtualized network management, he adds.

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