The evolution of the wireless local area network industry has been so dramatic that it seems almost a certainty that mobile-phone makers will include WLAN technology in future wireless devices.
Indeed, all the major mobile-phone chip makers have announced plans to include 802.11 technology in their mobile-phone chips by the end of this year or early next year. Further, the world’s No. 2 mobile-phone maker, Motorola Inc., announced plans earlier this year to build a WLAN-capable phone, and No. 1 player Nokia Corp. said it is considering such a move. Nokia already sells a dual-mode PC card.
The situation is a far cry from the concerns voiced during the market’s infancy, with observers wondering if WLAN technology would kill the market for third-generation network technology. T-Mobile USA Inc. largely stifled those concerns when it announced plans to sell WLAN service alongside its wide area network offerings. Several other U.S. carriers have since followed suit, along with numerous carriers worldwide.
And now it seems the wireless industry will soon see not only bundled service offerings, but also a bundled device. No U.S. carrier has yet announced plans for a WLAN/wide area network device, but none has rejected the idea either.
“I think it’s going to happen,” said Albert Lin, wireless industry analyst for American Technology Research. “From an equipment maker’s standpoint, it’s almost a given.”
Lin said the rapid proliferation of WLAN hot spots, some of which are even funded by government agencies, means that gear makers most assuredly will look to take advantage of the potential customer base.
Indeed, metrics from Infonetics Research show there is a major market to be had in the WLAN space. The firm said revenue from WLAN hardware will reach $2.01 billion worldwide for this year. Revenues from the first quarter totaled $481.9 million, with access points accounting for 63 percent of that.
Interestingly, the firm found consumers are the leading revenue generators, making up 48 percent of total revenues, followed by enterprises at 43 percent and service providers at 9 percent. North America accounts for 58 percent of WLAN hardware revenue, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Further, consulting and research firm Parks Associates found that close to 2 million households added WLAN networks during the past two years, and the firm predicted 30 million households will set up data networks by 2007.
“The exciting news is that 1Q ’03 saw a great deal of activity from vendors launching WLAN switching and security, as well as wireless IP telephony solutions that could drive a much steeper adoption curve within the enterprise mainstream,” said Infonetics analyst Richard Webb. “These products will take a quarter or so to gain traction, but will make 2004 a big year for wireless LAN.”
And equipment makers are looking to take advantage of that big year. L.M. Ericsson recently demonstrated a single sign-on procedure for WLAN and GSM networks using a mobile-phone Subscriber Identity Module card. And handheld computer maker Symbol Technologies Inc. recently released its latest voice-over-WLAN device, the PDT 8146.
“Symbol has made quite an investment in this,” said Richard Watson, Symbol’s product marketing director.
Indeed, Symbol has been involved in the voice-over-WLAN market for almost five years. The company in 1998 released its first handheld that allowed users to have voice conversations over wireless LANs. Over the years Symbol has introduced a range of WLAN products, including those that support voice conversations over a wireless PBX or over IP networks. For example, the Klien School District in Houston operates a WLAN campus and has several thousand Symbol phones that allow administrators and others to make and receive mobile calls. However, none of Symbol’s devices feature combined support for wireless LAN and wide area networks. Voice over WLAN “is a real productivity aid,” Symbol’s Watson said. “Voice is a strategic initiative for Symbol.”
“It has the opportunity to transform the way we communicate,” said Rob Enderle, a research fellow at Giga Information Group.
The potential benefits of voice over WLAN are numerous. Users could make calls over the Internet and save on the cost of long-distance and local calling, all the while remaining somewhat mobile. Businesses could route all voice and data transmissions over the same pipe, and employees could roam throughout a WLAN campus. Further, combined WLAN/WAN phones could reduce the traffic on carriers’ wide area networks when users roam onto local area networks. And carriers would be able to attract and maintain high-tech customers.
“It would basically save quite a bit of money,” said Lin.
However, there are plenty of obstacles to overcome, those in the industry point out.
“The golden egg is a dual-mode (WLAN and WAN) phone,” said Symbol’s Watson. But, he added, “there’s still some technical hurdles, and there’s some business hurdles.”
Watson said Symbol has no specific plans to offer a mobile phone that includes WLAN capabilities. He said there are myriad technical hurdles for such a device, aside from the necessary carrier relationships.
“You have to be able to remove the latency,” said Giga’s Enderle.
The reason Internet telephony has not yet taken off is because of the inherent sluggishness of the network, he said. Any WLAN mobile phone also will have to address the latency issue. Further, WLAN roaming would have to be simplified, as well as battery consumption and a host of other problems.
But such hurdles can likely be overcome. “Carriers are trying to bring data to the leading-edge adopters,” Lin said.
