SINGAPORE, Oct 5 Aruba Networks' share of the global wireless network market is now 15 pe

SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) Aruba Networks' share of the global wireless network market is now 15 percent, up from 10 percent in the second quarter, and second only to industry leader Cisco Systems Inc, Aruba's CEO said on Friday.

The U.S. firm, which supplies equipment for secured wireless networks used in offices, announced in September its market share had crossed the 10 percent mark in the April-June period, up from about 5 percent in the same period of 2005.

The increase in market share had placed it ahead of unlisted Symbol Technologies -- a unit of mobile phone maker Motorola Inc.

''We now have about 3,500 customers and in the last six months we have replaced Motorola to become number two in the industry with a market share of about 15 percent,'' Aruba's chief executive Dominic Orr told Reuters in an interview in Singapore.

Orr refused to say when Aruba, which made a net loss of $24.4 million in the year ending July 2007, would turn profitable.

According to a Reuters Estimates poll of 5 analysts, Aruba is expected to make a net profit of $1.7 million and revenue of $214.2 million in fiscal 2008.

The company, which listed on Nasdaq in March after six years in business, has turned down several ''merger proposals'' and was in fact seeking to buy companies that could help grow its market share, Orr also said.

''We will make acquisitions in both hardware and software segments but more likely a software firm that could strengthen our network security offerings,'' he said.

Orr said Aruba has not infringed any patents as alleged by Motorola in a lawsuit filed in August involving short-range wireless network technologies.

''We do not believe that we infringe these patents, and Motorola has not explained why it waited until now to sue us. We started issuing these patents in 2003,'' Orr said.

REUTERS KR PM1414