The Market

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) have grown faster than expected even in a difficult economy, according to a report released by Cahners In-Stat Group.

Overall, the WLAN market will grow from 3.3 million units shipped in 2000 to 23.6 million units expected to ship in 2005, the report says. From the point of view of WLAN vendors, however, there's also some bad news.

That bad news is in the form of lower prices, particularly for 802.11b products. As a result, vendor revenues won't grow at the same rate as unit sales, the report notes.

The growth of public WLAN "hotspots" in airports, hotels, libraries - even coffee shops - portends revenue from wireless LANs skyrocketing to $868 million by 2006. In 2000, money from WLANs raked in just over $1 million, according to Allied Business Intelligence.

A new report from Frost & Sullivan, "The Global Market for 5GHz Wireless Technology," says that the market for fixed wireless equipment alone(2.4 GHz plus 5GHz equipment) will will leap from $0.01 billion in 2001 to $4.75 billion in 2005.

AIRAYA's focus on best in class wireless bridging solutions for high capacity, low cost deployment by ISP's and enterprises will ensure the company is positioned to take advantage of both the growth of the market as well as the increased speed requirements and high margin potential of 5 GHz products in fixed wireless markets worldwide.