Revenue for WiFi hardware has grown 9% in the past year, with WiFi switches up 80%, according to a report by Infonetics Research. Cisco remains the top seller of WLAN hardware, with 16% of the market, and had a second consecutive $100-million-plus quarter, the report said. Linksys, which is owned by Cisco, was in second place with 13%.
The report concluded that the sales of WiFi switches and ports will continue to see strong growth in the coming years.
Overall, worldwide revenue for WiFi hardware is up 9%, to $784.5 million, and total units were up 31% for the third quarter of 2004 compared to the same quarter of 2003. Infonetics projects that over 84 million WiFi hardware units will be sold in 2007, a jump of 252% over 2003. WiFi hardware revenue will top $3.7 billion in 2007, 49% more than in 2003.
The report said that access points account for about two-thirds of WLAN hardware revenue, network adapters for under a quarter, with security gateways and WLAN switch and aggregation products making up the balance.
The report found that small office/home office consumers account for the majority of WLAN hardware revenue but that their share decreased a point in the third quarter, while revenue from service providers and enterprises increased a point.
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