WLAN: Sustaining tough times

BANGALORE, INDIA: The acceleration of enterprise adoption of WLAN technology is radically transforming business operations, the network edge, datacenters and centralized data control.

WLAN serves as a boon to organizations as it helps in saving wiring and maintenance costs by providing wireless mesh technology at the network distribution and access layer.

Industry Scoreboard

According to VOICE&DATA estimates, the current WLAN market stands at Rs 270 crore in FY 2008-09 as compared to Rs 210 crore in the FY 2007-08. Despite the economic downturn, revenue has managed a 28.6 percent growth, which is attributed to cost advantage of wireless network access and security.

Though there is a negative growth of -2 percent in the revenue of Cisco for FY 2008-09, the company retained its leadership position in the WLAN segment. Cisco recorded revenue of Rs 90 crore in FY 2008-09 as against Rs 91.8 crore in FY 2007-08. And a market share of 33.3 percent.

D-Link held the second position with revenues of Rs 46.2 crore in FY 2008-09 as compared to Rs 38.5 crore in the previous fiscal, with overall growth of 20%. Netgear managed to grab the # 3 place with an estimated revenue of Rs 33.6 crore and recorded a growth of 9.8%.

Growth Boosters

The growth in the wireless market in India will be driven by all segments of industries as more wireless LANs are being set up by corporates to complement their wired infrastructure.

The primary driver of the growth and adoption of wireless technologies is the boom in laptop penetration and the growing proliferation of wireless devices. Additionally, as Wi-Fi becomes more secure and as there is tighter integration between the wired and wireless networks, more growth can be seen in the adoption of wireless and mobility solutions.

In offices and corporates, the general trend is to have Wi-Fi as part of the wired networks to offer mobility to the employees on IP networks and add value to the current deliverables of the network.

Key verticals driving the growth include IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, retail, Internet service providers, education, manufacturing, real estate and hospitality. Government SWANs and rural connectivity are also leading to more adoption of wireless in the country.

Market Movements

The latest trend in the WLAN space is the addition of VoIP technology to wireless networks (VoWLAN). Adoption of this technology helps in reducing costs effectively through collaboration. Also, the collaboration between RFID and wireless is leading to new mobility applications and solutions for industry segments like manufacturing, retail and healthcare.

Wireless security is another important aspect as the wireless network expands. With 802.1 and WPA2 encryption, WLAN provides a high level of security.

Another emerging trend in this segment is IEEE 802.11n. This solution will operate in the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio band, offering backward compatibility with pre-existing 802.11a/b/g deployments.

Latest Arrivals

Technology additions have dominated market trends during the last fiscal. Cisco has announced its new 802.11n access points, the Aironet 1140 Series, Wi-Fi certified 802.11n Draft 2.0 platform that expands Cisco's portfolio of next generation wireless solutions.

In addition, Cisco also introduced Cisco M-Drive technology, that extends Cicso's heritage in building enterprise class networks to deliver a reliable RF platform.

One of the major turning points has been the launch of 802.11n, 2.0 Draft AP's from Cisco which allows speeds of upto 300 Mbps. Also, the launch of the Fixed WiMAX-802.16d and the promise of early availability of Mobile WiMAX-802.16e, which promises to deliver true mobile experience over large distances at a good speed.

For D-Link, one of the major technology additions in the last fiscal was the Draft N technology which is definitely a breakthrough for wireless LANs with better speeds and coverage areas. 

DAX Network has also strengthened its portfolio by adding some world class technologies like Voice over WLAN, WiMAX, 802.11n, Ultra-Wideband etc. Apart from these, three primary innovations are Multiple Input and Multiple Output Technology (MIMO), Packet aggregation, and Channel Bonding.

For Juniper, many new technologies have been introduced in the wireless LAN sector, including simultaneous support of multiple SSID per access poin, virtualization, integrated firewall, integrated threat management, URL filtering for parental control in home users, integrated IPSEC VPN for corporate VPN, user authentication-web based, client based, 802.1x, unified access controlling, future proof-IPv6 readiness and other standard features are Network Address Translation, Quality of service, IP address management, etc.

Hurdles to Cross

The major concerns of enterprises for large scale deployment are lack of security and lack of access control.The roadblocks for service providers are regulatory compliance, offering managed security services and future proof-IPV6 support.

While enterprise wireless deployments have taken off in a big way with verticals such as hospitality, manufacturing and educational institutions being early adopters, the responses to public hotspots had been tepid till recently. However, with recent announcements like the government's move to de-license the 2.4 Ghz and 5.1 Ghz bands, the adoption is set to grow.

bandwidth backhaul is a challenge-be it broadband backhaul for homes, Internet leased lines or WiMax for remote locations.

But the greatest challenge in the wireless project implementation is the line of sight. Moreover, in order to cover long distances, great height is needed. Hence, tower erection increases the implementation costs. The second challenge is wireless management.

Bright Prospects

In the current state of economic turbulance, the industry is expecting 'more at less'. Hence, one needs to analyze investments and align them with the business value that is driven from it.

Service providers will focus on the managed wireless LAN switches and regulatory compliance. The demand for well-designed wireless LAN products will continue to grow as customers' needs for security increases.

The industry will continue to explore new opportunities and applications to improve the business and enhance productivity through a mobile workforce. Technologies that drive Wi-Fi enabled business applications and devices for a variety of uses, including-mobile healthcare, inventory management, video surveillance, real-time data access, asset tracking and network visibility-will have an edge.