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Strategies & Market Trends : The New Economy and its Winners -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dave Doriguzzi who wrote (14447)	10/22/2002 12:10:33 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Microsoft Cuts the Cord Redmond has a new line of equipment designed to help turn your home into a wireless network. In the short term, at least, that's good news for the industry. By Matthew Maier Business2.0 October 22, 2002 business2.com It was probably only a matter of time. Microsoft recently announced that it will start selling home-networking equipment, jumping headlong into a high-growth segment of the wireless industry. It's not hard to see why: According to research firm In-Stat/MDR, the number of wireless home networks nationwide will jump from 10.5 million in 2001 to more than 16 million this year, making it one of the fastest-growing markets in the industry. Microsoft is reaching out to those customers by introducing a new line of products -- including base stations ($150), notebook adapters ($80), and wireless laptop kits ($220) -- designed to let you take your laptop anywhere you want around the house (or the pool), unencumbered by cables. Microsoft's entry won't instantly make it the leader in the field. There are already several smaller but more established competitors like D-Link and NetGear, not to mention Linksys, currently the market leader. For the last several years, growth rates near 50 percent have allowed Linksys to accrue a more than 35 percent market share, which puts it far ahead of anyone else in the business. Based in Irvine, Calif., the privately held Linksys, which came to life in the garage of its founder and CEO, Victor Tsao, has been developing wired and wireless networking gear for more than 14 years. While the company already has a complete line of wireless access points and routers based on the popular 802.11b standard, it's also developing products compatible with newer standards, including 802.11a and 802.11g. Linksys also recently unveiled a wireless Ethernet bridge that allows a user to extend wireless connectivity to any Ethernet-ready device, such as a printer, a scanner, or even a new console system like Microsoft's Xbox. For the rest of this story, including related links, go to: business2.com