Vendors Flood Market With New Wireless Gear

Wireless LAN vendors will be out in full force at this week's Interop Las Vegas 2007, demonstrating how a market seemingly heading toward commoditization is still ripe for profit for solution providers.

A variety of vendors -- from dedicated wireless players, like Aruba, Bluesocket, Meru Networks and Trapeze Networks, to broader players, like Nortel Networks and Netgear -- are rolling out new WLAN wares at the conference, which is run by CRN parent company CMP Media.

And it's not just a market for old standbys. The group includes startups, including Aerohive Networks and Ruckus Wireless, as well as new entrants to the space, such as Adtran.

All are eager to grab their share of the WLAN equipment market, which hit $2.8 billion worldwide in 2006, up 18 percent compared to the previous year, according to Infonetics Research.

"Our customers are all asking for [wireless]; our engineers that weren't that interested in it now have a lot of interest in it," said Tom Gobeille, president of Network Computing Architects, a solution provider in Bellevue, Wash. "I thought that it was scorched earth, but now you can actually make money selling wireless with services and ongoing support."

Helping drive the push for WLAN technology is customers' growing appetite for solutions that enable employees to work remotely, Gobeille said.

"It's the virtualized workforce. We have to do it, too. We keep hiring, but we don't have the space," Gobeille said. "We're looking at enabling employees to work [remotely], and wireless plays into that."

Another driver of all of this WLAN activity is the forthcoming 802.11n high-speed wireless standard. Products based on 802.11n should bring data rates as fast as 600 Mbps, up from 54 Mbps today, and boost capacity to 400 Mbps or more, compared to 24 Mbps with current technology.

Even though the standard won't reach ratification until next year, products based on the draft version of 802.11n have already flooded the market. While early consumer draft-N wares proved somewhat disappointing, the Wi-Fi Alliance's decision to begin certifying prestandard products this summer is expected to bring a new wave of credibility, which vendors are ready to cash in on with business-class products.

NEXT: Trapeze flies with 802.11n.