Sales Up For Wireless LAN, Embedded Wi-Fi Hardware

Wireless networking is continuing its steady growth, with two new studies showing sales rises in different segments of the market.

An assessment of global wireless LAN hardware revenues by Infonetics Research showed second quarter sales up 3 percent over the first quarter of this year, reaching nearly $720 million. Sales for the second quarter of next year are projected to reach $786 million"a growth rate of about 9 percent.

Port growth remains even more dramatic in the quarter, rising by 49 percent to reach 50,000 units. This type of growth will continue, according to Infonetics. "We forecast healthy double-digit quarterly port and revenue growth for wireless LAN switches throughout 2004, and high double-digit annual port and revenue growth through 2007," said Richard Webb, an analyst who authored the report.

The market remains highly competitive, with vendors fighting for market share by reducing prices. The top three market-share leaders identified by Infonetics were, in rank order, Cisco Systems, Linksys (which reports separately even though it is owned by Cisco), and Netgear.

Showing that Wi-Fi is becoming the norm for notebook computers accessing wireless LANs, embedded Mini PCI card adapters have displaced removable PCI Card adapters as the most popular adapter, according to a new study from In-Stat/MDR.In-Stat's research found that for 2003, Wi-Fi Mini PC cards captured 49.1 percent of the market, compared to 38.8 percent for PCI Card adapters. That represents a dramatic drop from the cards' 2002 share of 58.3 percent.