Consumer Electronics Takes Interest In 802.11n

Written by Adam Gosling

Monday, 13 August 2007

ABI Research says that the new interest in Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics will see the new Draft 802.11n and its subsequent standard is likely to become the technology of choice for the Consumer Electronics industry. According to a study by the researcher, demand from consumers and device manufacturers to unleash video entertainment around the home will create a need for high-speed networking technology, leading to 216 million 802.11n chipsets being targeted towards consumer electronics devices by 2011. "Many consumer electronics vendors see Wi-Fi as the primary way to get network-delivered content to their devices," says research director Michael Wolf. "As consumers increasingly source video content on the Internet and look towards multi-room distribution, older Wi-Fi technologies don't have the bandwidth to deliver this content, particularly over longer ranges. 802.11n, in particular 5 GHz solutions using 40 MHz-wide channels, will help alleviate these constraints." "Competition will be fierce in the consumer electronics space, which is one of the largest growth segments for Wi-Fi chipsets," adds principal analyst Philip Solis. "Well-established Wi-Fi semiconductor vendors such as Broadcom and Marvell will be competing against up-and-coming Wi-Fi chipset vendors concentrating on market niches - companies such as Metalink within the line-powered CE space, and Nanoradio within the portable CE space." Growth in 802.11n in consumer electronics devices is a natural evolution of the market for faster Wi-Fi from the PC and router markets. As laptop OEMs make 802.11n standard on their high-end laptops, ABI Research believes this will have a natural pull-through effect on 802.11n-enabled home routers. The wider installed base of 802.11n routers and gateways, combined with increased demand for IP-delivered content on consumer electronics, will push large consumer electronics brands to integrate Wi-Fi in their devices. www.abiresearch.com Related news items Nokia E51: Smarter Than It Looks -19/09/2007 Mobile Speakerphone From Jabra -30/08/2007 Australian Idol Live On Next G -19/08/2007 Handset Makers Follow Motorola -16/08/2007 HP Plans More iPaqs As PDAs Become Smartphones -12/08/2007 Newer news items Broadcom Enthusisam for 802.11n Wavers -06/09/2007 D-Link Ships Half A Million Draft N Devices -14/08/2007 Older news items D-Link Boosts Draft N Range -30/07/2007 Boingo Goes Flat On Global Roaming -26/06/2007 Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Draft-N Certification -25/06/2007 D-Link Routers To Make Sharing Easy -24/04/2007 Easy VoIP System For Mobile Makers -16/03/2007 Tag This Now: