Wireless LAN market set to boom by 2010

The voice networking market is set for another spurt of growth, as the latest technology, voice over IP (VoIP) converged with Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) is estimated to become worth £1.99bn by 2010, according to analyst Frost & Sullivan.

The current VoWLAN market in Europe is still immature. It was worth £6.6m in 2004, but a yearly growth rate of 160 per cent could see vendors and resellers scrambling to offer converged solutions, the study claimed.

The report added that security fears have been resolved by higher standards, and that both data and voice players need to look to VoWLAN in the near future.

Jan Ten Sythoff, mobile analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said advances such as more WLAN providers developing voice applications have driven market demand. “WLAN equipment manufacturers will be adding this to their product portfolios. We expect take up will be gradual,” he said.

Ten Sythoff added that VoWLAN is still in the early stages.

Mark Maltby, senior systems engineer for EMEA at WLAN vendor Netgear, agreed. “It is early days and only the tech-savvy users are taking it up. In the UK it has been slow, but once the bigger players take it up, the market will improve.”

Maltby added that security issues will be resolved in newer products, which will filter through the market and push shipments.

Pierre Lams, co-founder of wireless and mobility reseller Handheld PCs, agreed that the market will grow, but warned that resellers may miss out on the benefits. “The demand is growing rapidly for VoIP on WLANs. We deliver wireless email on smart phones and sales are rocketing,” Lams said.

“If you have access to a wireless LAN you can make calls and bypass the phone operators completely.

“However, I am not convinced there is a reseller play. The VoIP provider model does not include any margin for resellers, as a lot of sales are going direct online.”