Communications and Technology Industry Research

Currently only 2.3 percent of North American universities are using 802.11n. However, it will be available in 99 percent of universities by 2013 according to a new study by ABI Research (News - Alert). The research firm predicts that both primary and secondary schools will also experience robust growth in the use of Wi-Fi and Voice over Wi-Fi.

 

This increased usage is due to several needs and demands and differs between lower and higher education. The demand is expected to offer a diverse range of opportunities for Wi-Fi equipment vendors.

 

Stan Schatt, vice president and research director at ABI said 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. ABI also believes the global K-12 market for Wi-Fi equipment will grow from $47 million in 2007 to $644 million in 2013.

 

ABI Research’s report Wi-Fi in the Education Vertical says that although North American academic institutions were early adopters of Wi-Fi and VoWi-Fi, the rest of the world, led by Europe, is rapidly catching up. Due to parental and governmental concerns about potential health issues, the European adoption is expected to be slow down slightly.

 

The research firm explains that there are several reasons for the deployment of Wi-Fi in schools and colleges. The educational institutes demand more security, especially video surveillance. Embracing an “anytime-anywhere learning” philosophy, K-12 schools are also placing emphasis on providing networked computers to as many students as possible. Universities are the leading early adopters, and have recognized that Wi-Fi connectivity is a recruitment requirement for many students.

 

Schatt also emphasized that video is very important to universities as is fixed-mobile convergence and that vendors should fashion real partnerships with handset vendors to offer FMC that does not limit faculty members to a single handset brand.