Almost All North American Universities to Have Wi-fi by 2013

Although 802.11n Wi-Fi is found in only 2.3% of North American universities today, according to a new ABI Research study it will be available in 99% in 2013. Primary and secondary schools will also experience robust growth in the use of Wi-Fi and Voice over Wi-Fi. All these increases are driven by a variety of needs and demands (which differ between lower and higher education), and offer a diverse range of opportunities for Wi-Fi equipment vendors.

“ABI Research believes that Wi-Fi access point and controller equipment revenue in the global higher education market will skyrocket from $137 million in 2007 to $837 million in 2013,” says vice president and research director Stan Schatt. “The global K-12 market for Wi-Fi equipment will grow from $47 million in 2007 to $644 million in 2013.”

North American academic institutions have made most of the early running in Wi-Fi and VoWi-Fi adoption, but the rest of the world, led by Europe, is rapidly catching up. However, European adoption may be slowed slightly due to parental and governmental concerns about potential health issues.

Motivations for deploying Wi-Fi in schools and colleges vary widely. Greater security is in demand, especially video surveillance. K-12 schools are embracing an “anytime-anywhere learning” philosophy, and they are placing emphasis on providing networked computers to as many students as possible. Universities, clearly the leading early adopters, are also finding that Wi-Fi connectivity is a recruitment requirement for many students.

The report offers vendors suggestions to help realize the potential value of Wi-Fi in education. “In the K-12 market, partnerships with laptop vendors increase a Wi-Fi vendor’s chances,” says Schatt. “Even in these lower schools, Wi-Fi as an enabler of video surveillance is a good selling point.” Video is also very important to universities, and so is fixed-mobile convergence: “Vendors should fashion real partnerships with handset vendors to offer FMC that does not limit faculty members to a single handset brand.”

Posted to the site on 2nd May 2008

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