The entrance of networking and wireless heavyweights such as Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, Intel, Nokia and Ericsson into the WLAN arena ensures that prices will continue to fall, Paulo believes. These companies will leverage their expertise in volume shipping and their extensive and deep channels to boost economies of scale and WLAN product demand. This cheaper solution requires only a single Ethernet cable to each access point instead of separate power and data cables. IT managers do not have to hire electrical specialists to run dedicated power lines to individual APs. Security, considered a weakness in WLAN technology by some, should improve as the IEEE 802.11 workgroup develops security enhancements.
Many vendors already offer enhanced proprietary security features.
Major PC vendors such as Dell and IBM are offering embedded Wi-Fi solutions in their products, a development that should spur WLAN demand. Intersil is also developing compact flash cards that allow Wi-Fi functionality to be incorporated into PDAs and Pocket PC devices. The WLAN IC market is becoming more lucrative and attractive. More vendors will enter this space over the next couple of years and will challenge Intersil and Lucent, the two major WLAN silicon providers. Looking ahead, growth in 2002 will be largely driven by Wi-Fi products with some additional growth from 802.11g 22 Mbps products, assuming that standard is ratified.