TEMPE, Ariz. -- The wireless local-area networking (WLAN) chip market will show flat growth in 2001, but is expected to rebound and grow at a 42% compound rate over the next five years, according to a report from Forward Concepts Co. here.
In total, the WLAN chip market is projected to grow from $1.6 billion in 2001, to $9.1 billion in 2005, according to Forward Concepts. The report provides forecasts for chip sets based on the plethora of standards in the market: HomeRF, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a, combo 802.11a/b, and HyperLAN/2.
The report concludes that the 802.11b-compliant chip market will remain dominant throughout the forecast period, with a unit compound growth rate of 82% from 2001 to 2005.
However, the 802.11a-based chip market will grow at a 375% rate during the period, the report said. The new 802.11g chip market is projected to grow at a 171% rate and those based on a combination of 802.11a and 802.11b are expected to increase by 193%.
"The new 802.11g draft standard will enable faster 22- and 54-megabit-per-second (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," said Carter L. Horney, who tracks the market for Forward Concepts.
"Because of better signal propagation characteristics, 54-Mbps
operations in the 2.4-GHz band can cover greater distances than is possible in the 5-GHz band targeted by early 802.11a products," he said. "With better area coverage, coupled with compatibility with the popular 11-Mbps 802.11b installed base, one can expect 802.11b to have some impact on the potential 5-GHz 802.11a market size," he added.
There are some changes on the systems side of the business as well. Although the enterprise market for WLAN interface cards (NICs), access points (APs), and LAN-to-LAN bridges are presently the largest markets for this technology right now, the wireless-based home-networking market is growing faster and will be the bigger of the two by 2005, according to the report.
The market for embedded WLANs--such as Webpads, PDAs, pocket PCs, and even cellular phones--will begin to blossom in
2002 and is projected to eclipse both home and enterprise markets by 2005, the report said.
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