Wireless connectivity is increasingly being seen as a desirable commodity and is now present in more than 2 million US homes, according to new research from Parks Associates.
The home networking market has been one of the main beneficiaries of the growth of mobile connectivity (see
Wireless Home Networks Win Consumer Backing) and wi-fi solutions are now found in a quarter of all homes that have a data network.
“The popularity of wireless networks has provided a tremendous boost for home networking in general,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president of research at Parks Associates. “The rapid growth of laptop computers used inside and outside the home accounts in large part for the high numbers of wireless products purchased. In fact, it was among multiple-PC households with at least one laptop where penetration of home networks increased most rapidly in the last 18 months.”
Parks Associates claims that the number of US households using wireless solutions has risen from 350,000 in the third quarter of 2001 to 2.1 million today. The market research firm estimates that almost 30 million households will employ data networks by 2007 and wireless nodes will account for 40% of all devices connected.
