WiMAX market growing, but not in a straight line

LANs & Routers This newsletter is sponsored by Force10 Networks, Inc. Building the Reliable Business Network Join Force10 Networks, our strategic partners and guest speaker Abner Germanow, director of IDCs enterprise networks services for an event that highlights the application and data trends that are driving the need for reliability and flexibility through the business network. Learn more or register for this complimentary best practices seminar! Network World's LANs & Routers Newsletter, 06/14/07 WiMAX market growing, but not in a straight line By Jeff Caruso You hear a lot about WiMAX, but for now the market for the high-speed wireless access technology appears to be pretty volatile. According to Infonetics Research, the market for fixed WiMAX equipment shot up 39% in the fourth quarter of last year, but then it fell back 40% in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the market for equipment based on the up-and-coming mobile WiMAX increased 35% in the first quarter. The IDC Enterprise Panel: Join IDC's panel of IT influencers and decision-makers. Your contributions will be compiled and distributed to technology and telecommunications vendors all over the world. As a thank you for joining, you will receive select free IDC research, and discounted IDC conference passes. Click here to learn more Infonetics says the fixed WiMAX market could be inhibited by the rise of mobile WiMAX - but then quickly adds that the drop in fixed WiMAX was probably just a blip in the technology's growth. Still, many in the industry have been questioning whether fixed WiMAX is worth implementing, with mobile WiMAX on the way. If you take the two together, the market for WiMAX technologies is expected to move at a compound annual growth rate of 70% between 2006 and 2010. Interestingly, the Asia Pacific region accounts for a third of all fixed WiMAX equipment revenue, another third comes from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and just 18% of the market can be attributed to North America. Also, the research firm notes that the market for outdoor wireless mesh access nodes looks like it will grow well long term, but worldwide revenue for that market segment dropped 2% from the fourth quarter of 2006 to last quarter. The key to the future for any of these technologies is how well they work with high-speed cellular services, Infonetics says.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Jeff Caruso is managing editor of online news for Network World. He oversees daily online news posting and newsletter editing, and writes the NetFlash daily news summary, the High-Speed LANs newsletter and the Voices of Networking newsletter. Contact him at jcaruso@nww.com This newsletter is sponsored by Force10 Networks, Inc. Building the Reliable Business Network Join Force10 Networks, our strategic partners and guest speaker Abner Germanow, director of IDCs enterprise networks services for an event that highlights the application and data trends that are driving the need for reliability and flexibility through the business network. Learn more or register for this complimentary best practices seminar! ARCHIVE Archive of the LANs & Routers Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007