Wireless LAN in Asia to hit US$164 million
According to the Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Wireless LAN market 2000-2007 report, revenues for the WLAN market in 2000 was US$81.8 million.
Unit shipment growth is expected to increase at least three times from the present 211,400 units, with a compound annual growth rate of 40.3 percent between 2000 and 2007.
Last year, up to 40 percent of WLAN revenues were derived from Japan, 18.3 percent from China, and 13.3 percent from South Korea. These three markets are expected to continue their dominance over the forecast period, followed by Australia and Hong Kong.
The report spanned 13 countries and included four segments: direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), infrared and 5GHz.
| Total wireless LAN vendor ranking, Asia Pacific |
| 1) Lucent 2) Cisco 3) Symbol 4) BreezeCOM 5) Proxim |
Frost & Sullivan describes Wireless LAN as a local area network which uses high frequency radio waves instead of wires to communicate between nodes.
"The entrance of the likes of Cisco and 3Com, whose mainstay have been in wired networks, is suggesting that there is much opportunity waiting to be tapped in the wireless space.
"These stalwarts are expected to embark on aggressive advertising campaigns to create greater market awareness in the Asia Pacific region, which in turn, is expected to fuel demand," said Frost & Sullivan Technology Practice industry analyst Shamir Amanullah.
However, players which have dominated the market in past years will have to contend with these giants, who have vast resources and brand presence. "We recommend that these smaller vendors concentrate on vertical markets to sustain their profitability," he said in a statement.
| DSSS wireless LAN vendor ranking, Asia Pacific |
| 1) Lucent 2) Cisco 3) 3Com 4) Cabletron 5) Nokia |
DSSS (Direct sequence spread spectrum)
"We forsee that voice will become integral to wireless LANs, allowing businesses to enjoy a full spectrum of communications, besides pure data transfer. Therefore, an integrated WLAN solution, encompassing voice offerings, will likely be the next big thing in this area," Shamir said.
The market research firm recommends that existing WLAN providers seize this opportunity to integrate their solutions with legacy systems like the PBX or WAN, offering this technology as complimentary to existing Ethernets.
| FHSS wireless LAN vendor ranking, Asia Pacific |
| 1) Symbol 2) BreezeCOM 3) Proxim 4) Intermec 5) Melco |
FHSS(Frequency hopping spread spectrum)
Critical issues surrounding WLAN technology including security loopholes, inconsistent performance and varying standards will soon be resolved, especially with the entrance of large telecommunications, networking and computing companies.
"The 5GHz product range will be the prevailing technology and most lucrative market from 2005 onwards, contributing over 50 percent in projected revenues," Shamir said.
Frost & Sullivan identified four main drivers for the WLAN market in Asia Pacific:
• Mobility features for increased productivity gains
• Interoperability standards
• Increased transmission speeds from 5GHz band
• Higher performance products and growth for portable devices