Worldwide cloud-managed infrastructure and managed services revenue will reach $653 million in 2014 and $2.5 billion by 2018, said IDC.
IDC noted that the WLAN market for cloud-managed Wi-Fi presents notable growth opportunities in both hardware and services.
Cloud-managed Wi-Fi growth has been fueled by increased adoption in the midmarket and distributed enterprise including retail and K-12 education.
Enterprises are seeing the big picture and considering cloud-managed Wi-Fi for their remote sites when upgrading their networks.
Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure, said: “These upgraded network architectures can accommodate unique needs around bring your own device (BYOD), scalability, application visibility and management.”
Having a strong, robust wireless network is mandatory for enterprises, and the proliferation of BYOD and mission-critical network applications has helped drive new wireless LAN deployments within a growing number of enterprise segments. Cloud-managed Wi-Fi, with its central manageability, smaller physical footprint, and linear scalability, is a viable option for these enterprises.
One of the most appealing benefits of cloud-managed Wi-Fi is the ability to provide automated provisioning and configuration. Delivering the network over the cloud helps shift spending from Capex to Opex, said IDC.