Date: 17/09/2012

Cisco is the leader in Carrier Wi-Fi, says ABI Research

ABI Research performs an evaluation on Carrier Wi-Fi equipment vendors and spots Cisco as the overall winner in its vendor matrix. Carrier Wi-Fi is defined as equipment purchased by a mobile or fixed line service provider and integrated into their core networks with the intention of presenting the subscriber a seamless user experience and offloading a portion of the user data traffic based on the service provider’s policies.

ABI Research evaluated the vendor’s performance in Carrier Wi-Fi portfolio variety, roadmap, R&D, network management, standards participation, and Self-Organizing Networks. These assessments helped in the determination of the vendor’s score in innovation.

ABI’s top scoring vendors for innovation:
For the implementation score, ABI Research calculated market share, key customers and contracts, geographic reach, partnerships in the ecosystem and vendor’s end to end solutions capability.

ABI’s top scoring vendors for implementation:
Even though a relatively small market today, ABI Research has recognized Ruckus Wireless, Cisco, and Ericsson as the early market share winners.

Competitive dynamics are heating up in this segment with companies like Cisco and Ruckus Wireless moving into areas traditionally held by mobile infrastructure vendors and the mobile infrastructure vendors like Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia Siemens Networks moving into the Wi-Fi segment.

“Although not our top ranked company today, we believe Ruckus Wireless could prove to be among the winners in this segment in the future,” says principal analyst Nick Marshall.

With prolific and innovative Carrier Wi-Fi portfolios and roadmaps, ABI Research also ranks Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks among the strong challengers for share moving forward.
Author: Srinivasa Reddy N