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Home WLAN growth gets eclipsed by boom in enterprise WiFi

Sales of wireless networking equipment destined for the enterprise showed healthy growth in the last quarter, outstripping the pace of growth in the residential sector, according to new figures from IDC. Shipments of wireless routers/gateways that are primarily for the residential market grew by two per cent from Q3 to Q4 2004, compared to 19 per cent growth in the enterprise segment.

Overall, WLAN infrastructure revenue gained only 0.8 percent, but WLAN client revenue jumped by 27 per cent. NETGEAR now leads the market having gained nearly three per cent market share in the quarter.

"The residential market did not reach its saturation point already, but growth rates will be lower than reached in the past quarters," IDC analyst Evelien Wiggers told The Register. "The enterprise segment has been slower to pick up since security and management issues are playing a more important role than in the residential segment."

More evidence that PCs are increasingly connecting to wireless networks comes from the kind of WLAN kit that is selling well, IDC says. Even though more and more laptops and desktops are shipping with pre-installed WLAN connections, vendors of PCI adapters and USB receivers experienced positive growth during this quarter, which indicates that more desktops are being attached to a wireless network.

This story copyright The Register