Worldwide WLAN equipment shipments grew 120% to 19.5 million units but end-user spending increased just 29% due to falling prices, Gartner said in a press release on June 16.
“As one of the few growth areas in network equipment, the WLAN market is attracting a large number of vendors. The resulting competition is forcing prices down, benefiting end-users by creating a wide choice of low-cost products,” said Andy Rolfe, principal analyst for Gartner’s worldwide telecommunications and networking group.
Buoyed by its strength in the WLAN adapter and WLAN broadband gateway segments, Linksys overtook Cisco Systems as the leading wireless equipment vendor in 2002, accounting for 14.1% of end-user spending. Cisco slipped to the No. 2 position with a 13.9% market share.
Linksys also led in unit shipments in 2002 with 14.6% of the market. D-Link was the No. 2 vendor with a 9.6% market share. In March 2003, Cisco announced an agreement to acquire Linksys, which will result in the company extending its lead in the market both in revenues and shipments. “In acquiring Linksys, Cisco is re-entering the high-growth consumer and SOHO network markets. We expect Cisco to expand the Linksys distribution channel to include telecom service providers that want home networking products to bundle with their broadband offerings,” Rolfe said.
“Demand for the benefits of mobile access to corporate applications will continue to drive strong growth in the sales of WLAN equipment. The market requires multi-vendor compatibility, since WLAN adapters are being increasingly integrated into new mobile PCs,” said Rolfe. “However, the standards are as yet incomplete, particularly with regard to security. End-users and WLAN service providers should not rely on overly proprietary features, but should employ standard WLAN networks and provide security at higher layers.”
|
Gartner: Top five worldwide WLAN equipment vendors | |||||
|
Company |
2002 spending |
2002 market share |
2001 spending |
2001 market share |
Growth |
|
Linksys |
306.4 |
14.1% |
142.7 |
8.4% |
147.0% |
|
Cisco |
302.9 |
13.9% |
324.8 |
19.2% |
(6.7%) |
|
Buffalo Technology |
200.7 |
9.2% |
172.5 |
10.2% |
16.3% |
|
D-Link |
174.5 |
8.0% |
89.2 |
5.3% |
95.6% |
|
Proxim |
172.3 |
7.9% |
131.4 |
7.8% |
31.1% |
|
Others |
1,021.1 |
46.9% |
829.3 |
49.1% |
23.1% |
|
Total |
2,177.7 |
100.0% |
1,689.9 |
100.0% |
29.0% |
Source: Gartner, compiled by DigiTimes, June 2003.
|
Gartner: Top five worldwide WLAN equipment vendors | ||
|
Company |
Shipments |
Market share |
|
Linksys |
2,860.0 |
14.6% |
|
D-Link |
1,881.8 |
9.6% |
|
Buffalo Technology |
1,857.9 |
9.5% |
|
Symbol Technologies |
1,762.0 |
9.0% |
|
Proxim |
1,741.0 |
8.9% |
|
Others |
9,495.4 |
48.5% |
|
Total |
19,598.1 |
100.0% |
Source: Gartner, compiled by DigiTimes, June 2003.
Article translated by Richard So and edited by Richard So
