The LTE router / gateway market is forecast to grow from $804.2 million in 2018 to $1.9 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.4 percent, the latest IDC report said.

LTE router / gateway suppliers will be addressing three main use cases such as branch connectivity, mobile connectivity and Internet of Things/M2M, the IDC report said.

The enterprise LTE appliance market is seeing rapid uptake, prompting suppliers to seek differentiation to demonstrate value.

“Some are focusing on the software layer, or wireless SD-WAN, while others are leaning on their technology heritage in addressing IoT requirements. Branch, mobile, and IoT are emerging as the three main use cases for LTE routers and gateways,” said Patrick Filkins, senior research analyst, IoT and Mobile Network Infrastructure.

LTE is seeing stronger uptake as a way to provide reliable failover or as a primary WAN connectivity solution in the enterprise.

“We expect enterprise network, IT, and IoT practitioners to lean more heavily on LTE routers as an incremental connectivity option for existing wired connections, or even as the primary connection,” said Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure, at IDC.

IDC said a number of leading suppliers begin to distance themselves in revenue and growth metrics. Differentiation will remain challenging as the market matures. Early-stage markets often require thought leadership and ecosystem development to ignite growth patterns.

Enterprise access router market

The latest report from Dell’Oro Group the enterprise access router market posted year-over-year growth of five percent in Q3 2018, following five consecutive quarters of contraction. A key factor in the market resurgence was the availability of routers supporting SD-WAN functionality.

Cisco acquired Viptela last year  in order to integrate Vitpela technologies into their ISR series. Cisco also released the initial phase of SD-WAN for ISR products. Cisco, Huawei, and H3C were the top three vendors for worldwide revenue, said Shin Umeda, vice president at Dell’Oro Group.