WLAN Chipset Markets: 2003-2007

This is a market research report and contains market data only, such as business forecasts, market shares, industry analysis, or projections, on the global WLAN chipset markets industry, such as WLAN semiconductor, 802.11a, 802.11g chipset, Wi Fi, etc. We do not sell these products or have any contact information about buying or selling these products. This is a market research report only.

The Wireless LAN (WLAN) market continues to grow rapidly as wireless networks increasingly prove invaluable to home networking and mobile travelers. Meanwhile, new business revenues from WLANs are expected as wireless interfaces begin to find their way into consumer electronics devices and as more enterprises begin to find a role for WLANs in their enterprise networking mix.

But while manufacturers of WLAN chipsets face attractive growth prospects in the next few years, they also face significant challenges. Profit margins on plain vanilla WiFi chipsets are already low and promise to be squeezed further. At the same time the new 802.11a and 802.11g networking protocols are expected to speedily replace the aging 802.11b standard, raising the question of which standards WLAN chipset manufacturers should be supporting and in what kinds of products. The prospect of new Quality of Service (QoS) and encryption extensions to 802.11 only adds confusion, as does the question of how WLANs will be combined at the chip level with other standards and technologies such as voice-over-IP, Bluetooth and advanced mobile telephony.

In this new environment, larger suppliers of WLAN chipsets need to understand how to ensure they are selected for those major contracts, while start-ups need to determine how to differentiate themselves in order to survive. Both established and emerging firms therefore must determine what its customers are really looking for when they chose a supplier of WLAN chipsets. What kind of products do customers want — both now and in the future? And what kind of relationships are they looking for with suppliers?

CIR believes that the only way to answer these questions is to get inside the mind of the customer. So to help chipset and component manufacturers strategize in this space, CIR is publishing a new report WLAN Chipset Markets: 2003-2007 - Customer Requirements, Market Forecasts and Product Differentiation Strategies, based on an extensive telephone interview survey of equipment manufacturers in North America and Asia who are major WLAN chipset users. The survey reveals not only these customers' buying preferences, volume demands and technical requirements, but also what they think about the WLAN suppliers with whom they have had contact.

Using this data, the new CIR report provides detailed guidance on how WLAN chipset manufacturers can make money in this market in the next few years, along with a strategic appraisal of all the leading WLAN chipset suppliers and many of the most interesting new start-ups. In addition to the qualitative analysis, this new report provides detailed market forecasts for the WLAN chipset market. These forecasts are broken out by application (home networking, mobile computing and enterprise networking) and for each of these applications, the projections are further broken out by standards and technology and by the type of end user product (hubs, switches, laptop, card, etc.) in which the chipsets are used.

WHY IS THIS REPORT DIFFERENT?

WLAN Chipset Markets: 2003-2007 - Customer Requirements, Market Forecasts and Product Differentiation Strategies is different from other reports on the WLAN chipset market for three reasons:

• Real Market Research Not Vendor Hype. The data and analysis contained in this report is solidly grounded in a survey of customer opinion. Other so-called market research reports on WLAN chipsets are really just summaries of interviews with chip manufacturers and often reflect their over-bullish or mistaken impressions of demand patterns.

• Strategic Analysis, Not Cut and Pastes from Web Sites. Based on a careful analysis of the data from our survey of equipment manufacturers, we are able to provide considered advice on the best strategy for firms to adopt in the WLAN chipset business. We are also able to give a realistic appraisal of the strategies of today's WLAN chipset manufacturers. This differs from other studies, which do little more than provide profiles of suppliers that have been cut and pasted from corporate Web sites.

• Projections Derived from Market Realities. The forecasts in WLAN Chipset Markets: 2003-2007 are derived from what customers are telling us they will buy in the next few years as well as the expectations of the WLAN chipset suppliers themselves. However, we have not forecasted WLAN chipsets in a vacuum, but rather grounded our forecasts in statistical and demographic data from the major international regions where WLANs are being deployed. In this way we ensure that projections are based on plausible take-up rates and not just the WLAN industry's dreams about how big the addressable market for their products is.

WLAN COMPONENT COMPANIES COVERED IN THIS REPORT

• Agere
• Airgo
• AMD
• Athena Semiconductor
• Atheros
• Atmel
• Bermai
• BridgeCo
• Broadcom
• Cian
• Conexant
• Ellipsis Digital Systems
• Embedded Wireless Devices
• Engim
• Envara
• Fodus Communications
• GCT Semiconductor
• Helic
• HiBroad
• InProComm
• Intersil
• IceFyre
• Intel
• Magis Networks
• Maxim
• Marvell
• Mobilian
• Philips Semiconductors
• Ralink
• Raytheon
• RF Micro Devices
• Silicon Data
• Siliconians
• SiRiFIC
• Spirea
• Stepmind
• Synad
• Texas Instruments
• ViXS
• WavePlus
• XtremeSpectrum
• Zyray

FOR WHOM IS THIS REPORT INTENDED?

We believe that this report will become required reading for marketing executives, product planners, corporate strategists, technologists and others in firms producing WLAN chipsets and cards, Bluetooth and mobile phone chips and chipsets, other wireless Ics, analog semiconductors, VoIP and video chipsets and microprocessors. It will also be of interest to design firms and materials firms selling into the WLAN space and to WLAN equipment companies who need to understand the latest trend in WLAN components.