News

Growth in WiFi eaten away by death of legacy 802.11b gear

Punishment for the good guys: the switch from 11 megabits to the higher speed standard, 802.11g, has made a lot of money for the wireless LAN world - but only for those who switched early. Total growth in WiFi was tiny in the second quarter, says research company, Dell'Oro Group.

WiFi suppliers who waited for the official IEEE ratification of the new standard, lost out enormously. The growth in "unofficial" 11g devices was huge; 48% more sold.

The number of WiFi components actually went up substantially, but prices went down, says Dell'Oro. Total unit shipments increased 6% but a 10% price cut for 11b products, made the total growth in money terms only 2%. So total WLAN market revenues reached $419 million in the second quarter.

The company doesn't point this out, but the other feature of the market has been the release of the 11g product range at prices very similar to 11b, without a premium being charged.

Better times ahead? Yes - "We anticipate that market growth will accelerate in 2H03 as back-to-school purchases fuel growth in the third quarter and holiday sales boost the market in the fourth quarter," commented Greg Collins, Director, Dell'Oro Group.

The figures show Cisco as the market leader, but this is an anomaly caused by a difference in the way Linksys used to account for its sales, and the way it has to now that it is subject to Cisco accounting practices. Probably, next quarter will show Linksys back in the top position.

The information reflected above can be found in the 2Q03 Quarterly Wireless LAN Report, which covers 802.11b, 802.11g, and multimode technologies for: Access Points – Enterprise, Access Points – SOHO, Broadband Gateways, and Networks Interface Cards (NICs). To purchase this report, contact Julie Learmond-Criqui at 650-622-9400 ext. 223 or via e-mail.