Wireless Networking Sales Surge Worldwide: Report

Wireless networking is surging worldwide, according to two new reports from Infonetics Research, which found that the WiMAX equipment sales jumped 48% in the first quarter of this year, while WLAN sales rose 8%.

Revenue for the first quarter for WiMAX equipment was $68.3 million, and is forecast to reach $1.7 billion by 2009, the company found. Market growth is being driven by sales of WiMAX CPE units. Future growth will be driven by the evolution of WiMAX from a fixed-only to a fixed and mobile solution.

The WiMAX report also found:

* 62% of WiMAX revenue currently comes from CPE, and 38% from base stations. By 2009 will shift to 79% for CPE and 21% from base stations.

* Worldwide revenue from outdoor wireless mesh access nodes increased 22% to $46 million. Unit shipments increased 25%.* 30% of WiMAX equipment sales comes from EMEA, 26% from North America, 26% from Asia Pacific, and 18% from CALA. Deployments in EMEA are mostly in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, showing that there is a strong market for WiMAX is in developing countries.

WLAN Equipment Sales

In the WLAN market, Infonetics found that equipment sales hit $639 million in the first quarter, driven by strong sales in enterprises. Sales of enterprise WLAN equipment alone in that quarter hit $282 million, largely due to growth in WLAN switches and controllers.

Enterprise WLAN revenue will more than double by 2009, and reach $2.4 billion, as enterprises leverage mobility for data networking and IP voice.

The WLAN report also found:* Worldwide WLAN equipment revenue will grow to $3.8 billion in 2009.

* The WLAN switch and controller market jumped 42% in units and 24% in revenue. Together, they account for 20% of all WLAN equipment revenue in the first quarter of 2006. They will grow to 45% of the total in 2009

* Cisco remains the clear market leader in the enterprise WLAN equipment sales, followed by Symbol, Aruba, 3Com, and Trapeze,

* North America accounts for 47% of worldwide revenue in the first quarter of 2006, EMEA for 29%, Asia Pacific 20%, and CALA 3%.