Press Release: Rapid Shift to 802.11n in Routers and Gateways Will Spill over into Consumer Electronics

Rapid Shift to 802.11n in Routers and Gateways Will Spill over into Consumer Electronics

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 -- As Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics proliferate, the growth of 802.11n in connected entertainment devices will outpace that of other networking technologies, according to a study by ABI Research. 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.

Wi-Fi in Consumer Electronics examines the current state of Wi-Fi in consumer electronics. It explores the different types of devices where Wi-Fi will continue to grow in importance, featuring forecasts for total devices connected, as well as IC units and revenues for these devices. It also includes analysis of key vendors in this space, from both system and silicon perspectives. This study forms part of two ABI Research Services, Home Networking and Wi-Fi.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID & contactless, M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.