This IDC study presents a forecast update for the Western European wireless LAN market for the first half of 2005 and a comparison to the previous quarter. This study is segmented into WLAN clients ? PCI, PC cards, USB, non-PC applications, and other NICs ? and WLAN infrastructure (in-building access points, building-to-building access points, wireless switches/controllers, and wireless routers/gateways). Moreover, country forecasts are available for 16 Western European countries for WLAN clients and infrastructure.

Technologies covered in IDC's definition of WLAN are 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n, and dual-band solutions.

From the second half of 2004 to the first half of 2005, the Western European WLAN market continued its uptake. "WLAN infrastructure is the segment that is seeing most growth in this market and now accounts for 77.8% of total WLAN revenue in Western Europe," said Rogier Mol, senior research analyst at IDC's European Telecommunications and Networking Group. "While growth in this segment can mainly be attributed to sales in the consumer segment, we expect that for the next few years this will incorporate an increasing portion of sales to the enterprise."