Wi-Fi Rules Retail Sales In 2000

One Ethernet compatibility group proclaims that the battle in the long-contested retail fixed wireless LAN market appears to be over with 802.11b the victor.

by ISP-Planet Staff [March 20, 2001]

The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) announced this week that Wi-Fi IEE 802.11b standard is the dominant technology sold through retail outlets in 2000 based on data provided by PC Data Inc. of Reston, Virginia.

Stephen Baker, PC Data vice president of technology research, said there appears to be consistent and steady growth of the wireless LAN market throughout retail distribution channels.

"These retail sales growth numbers speak for themselves," Baker said. "We see this as an increasingly important category as the year progresses."

"We believe the battle between 802.11b and HomeRF is over, with 802.11b standing as the clear winner," Baker added.

"Although we are pleased with these results, it is important to point out that less than five percent of Wi-Fi's 2000 unit sales were through retail channels," Cohen noted.

"Preference for Wi-Fi by retail consumers only adds to its already compelling momentum in airports, hotels, cafés, small businesses and enterprises," Cohen said. "The real winner here is the consumer. They are benefiting from a true open, international standard with numerous product choices and broad vendor support."

Wi-Fi chronicles
In August 1999, WECA founding members 3Com, Cisco Systems, Intersil, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, and Symbol Technologies united to drive the adoption of one globally-accepted standard for high-speed, wireless, local area networking—the IEEE 802.11b standard.

Products built to the new standard operate in the 2.4 GHz radio band and transmit at a raw data rate of 11 Mbps. Unified support of the standard is facilitating the rapid deployment and adoption of broadband Wi-Fi access around the globe.

WECA is a nonprofit organization formed certify the interoperability of Wi-Fi products and to promote IEEE 802.11b as the global, wireless LAN standard across all market segments.

Membership in WECA is open to all companies who support the Wi-Fi standard, and can afford to cough-up the $20,000 annual membership fee. WECA membership is currently comprised of 83 members.

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