Wifi Revolution

Sunlight Research (News - Alert) announced it has released its IEEE (News - Alert) 802.11n WLAN Industry Report.

The report provides comprehensive analysis of U.S. patents relating to the 802.11n Standard for wireless local area networks.

Officials with Sunlight said that the report evaluates 3,375 issued U.S. patents deemed relevant to the 802.11n standard, and includes patents from over 450 assignees, including major corporations, academic research institutions and individual inventors.

Industry researcher Gartner (News - Alert) Inc. forecasts dramatic growth in the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices worldwide used in enterprise wireless LANs to jump from 115 million in 2009 to 432 million by 2013.  

According to Gartner estimates, the enterprise market for wireless LAN equipment will grow from $1.9 billion in 2009 to $3.6 billion in 2013, and the worldwide network switching market is expected to reach $16.0 billion by 2013.  

“Wireless and network switching markets are large and growing rapidly, due to increasing availability of wireless devices and robust, enterprise-class applications”, said Daniel A. Halpern, president of Sunlight Research, in a statement.  

Halpern said that the 802.11n Standard ratified last year is a major growth catalyst, as its performance capabilities dramatically exceed previous wireless standards and also that of many wired networks – it can handle much more data, faster.

He said that understanding the intellectual property landscape and the specific strengths of individual patents is critical for those competing in this space.  

“Industry professionals involved in patents, licensing, business development, investment analysis and others interested in the evolving wireless communications sector or those concerned about patent infringement risk and competitive threats in this field will find this to be a valuable resource,” said Halpern.

Company officials claimed that the primary, distinct advantage of all Sunlight Research reports is that each independent claim is analyzed by subject matter experts who assess patent strength on the basis of key parameters, including Claim Scope and Work-around Difficulty.