Tempe, Ariz.-November 19, 2001-Forward Concepts has announced the publication of its newest market research report, "Wireless LANs for Home, Enterprise & Beyond: An Analysis of System and Chip Markets." The report details the traditional home and enterprise markets for WLANs and the chipsets behind them, but also covers new "embedded" applications that will ultimately constitute the largest WLAN market.

Although the enterprise market for WLAN interface cards (NICs), access points (APs) and LAN-to-LAN bridges is presently the largest, at twice the size of the home WLAN market, the home market is growing faster and will be the bigger of the two by 2005. But, the market for embedded WLANs, as built-in (rather than plug-in) features of laptop computers, Webpads, PDAs, pocket PCs, and even cellphones will begin to blossom in 2002 and is projected to eclipse both home and enterprise markets by 2005. By early 2003, many cellular phones will begin to sport WLAN capability…often alongside (and in some cases, displacing) Bluetooth implementations.

According to the report, the WLAN system market experienced flat growth in 2001, but that is considered good performance in a bad year for technology markets. The total system market is projected to recover quickly and grow at a 42% compound rate from $1.6 billion this year to $9.1 billion in 2005, according to the report.

The report provides forecasts for chipsets based on HomeRF, IEEE 802.11b, the new 802.11g, 802.11a, combo 802.11a/b and HyperLAN/2 standards. The report concludes that 802.11b will remain dominant throughout the forecast period, with a unit compound growth rate of 82%, though 802.11a will be growing faster--at a 375% growth rate. New 22- or 54-Mbps 802.11g chips will be growing at a 171% unit growth rate and those based on a combination of 802.11a and 802.11b are projected to grow at a 193% rate.

Carter L. Horney, Senior Consultant and principal author or the report said," The new 802.11g draft standard will enable faster 22 Mbps and 54 Mbps transmissions in the 2.4 GHz band, engendering new chip set offerings on the heels of a plethora of 5-GHz 802.11a offerings." He went on to say, "Because of better signal propagation characteristics, 54 Mbps operation in the 2.4 GHz band can cover greater distances than is possible in the 5 GHz band targeted by early 802.11a products. With better area coverage coupled with compatibility with the popular 11 Mbps 802.11b installed base, one can expect 802.11g to have some impact on the potential 5-GHz 802.11a market size."

"Wireless LANs for Home, Enterprise & Beyond " is 110 pages in length and includes 23 figures and 9 in-depth tables. It is priced at $3,550.00 in North America and $3,650.00 internationally. It is immediately available from Forward Concepts and details are on its website at: http://www.forwardconcepts.com/wirelan.htm.

Will Strauss

wis@fwdconcepts.com

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