The wireless LAN sector is set to benefit from a surge in notebook sales and mobile workers will account for a majority of users in five years time, according to a report from Strategy Analytics.
The technology research firm claims that enterprises will comprise 70% of all embedded-WLAN notebook PC sales globally through 2008. It also predicts that notebook PCs will be the primary personal computing platform for workers in the developed markets of North America, Western Europe and Japan/Korea. It is forecast that businesses will purchase 29 million laptop computers next year.
The latest wave of notebook PCs points to substantial progress that has been made towards the elusive goal of maintaining, and even extending, battery life while effectively increasing processing power and RF capabilities. Larger, brighter and crisper displays are a real plus but remain an achilles heel with respect to power management,” said Cliff Raskind, Director of the Wireless Enterprise Strategies at Strategy Analytics.
“Still, with desktop-like performance minus the sticker-shock, the allure of notebooks is strong for a dispersed workforce that is increasingly transient in both the public domain and corporate-campus.”
An increasing number of laptops are being equipped with wi-fi capability and portable connectivity in the form of WLAN will ultimately come as standard see (Most Laptops To Be WLAN Compatible, Says Report). It is hoped that business users will soon regard the technology as indispensable and Strategy Analytics maintains that by 2008 there will be a worldwide total of more than 140 million WLAN-connected devices.
