Strong Signals for Non-Proprietary Wireless Standards

By 2007, standardized IEEE 802.11 networks are expected to account for the largest gains in market share among wireless industrial products in North America. Venture Development Corp. (VDC), a Natick, Mass.-based technology market research firm, predicts these gains will be mostly at the expense of products using proprietary protocols in industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands. Reasons for this shift include lower prices compared to most proprietary networks, multiple vendor options, and high data throughput.