Cisco Continues Wi-Fi Market Domination

Cisco continues to dominate the market, accounting for more than 60 percent of enterprise sales. And Cisco's recent Wi-Fi switch announcement should bolster market momentum, letting loyal Cisco shops move from tactical to strategic deployments with minimal pain. Cisco's entry also will lend credibility to Wi-Fi switching, legitimizing the architecture of many of Cisco's competitors.

Still, some wonder whether smaller vendors can compete with a company determined to dominate enterprise Wi-Fi. There is evidence of increasing competition from Symbol, 3Com and other established players, and from Airespace, Aruba and other new providers. To crack Cisco's hold on the market, these vendors must continue to innovate, execute on business plans and point to success stories--high-profile customers that have realized significant business value through WLAN implementation and are willing to talk about it publicly.