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Supply Constraints “A Pin in the Balloon” for Wi-Fi 6E, According to Dell’Oro Group
February 2022 by Dell’Oro Group
According to a recently published report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries, supply constraints will be a “pin in the balloon” for Wi-Fi 6E, as Wi-Fi 7 Enterprise class wireless LAN becomes available in 2023.
“Although manufacturers launched Wi-Fi 6E products in mid-2021, products are either not available, or they are in very limited supply. Supply constraints have prompted manufacturers to focus on enabling the availability of popular models by re-designing these models with components that are more readily available,” said Tam Dell’Oro, Founder, CEO and Wireless LAN Analyst. “Our interviews with systems integrators reveal users are asking for Wi-Fi 6, not 6E. Therefore, if companies have to prioritize their production, Wi-Fi 6 will be the priority. Wi-Fi shipments in the second half of 2021 excluding China, were significantly limited because of supply constraints. Ecosystem players do not see constraints easing until the end of 2022. With Wi-Fi 7 products shipping as early as 2023, we predict users will bypass 6E,” added Dell’Oro.
“In addition to supply constraints inhibiting the rate of adoption of Wi-Fi 6E, we have learned that compliance with regulations to operate within the 6 GHz spectrum are slowing the deployment process. Compliance processes have yet to be standardized and easy to implement,” said Dell’Oro.
Additional highlights from the Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Report:
We raised our forecast of the enterprise class Wireless LAN market as a result of recently published government initiatives to advance technology, and delayed fulfillment of pent-up demand. We now forecast over the next five years $45 to $50 billion will be spent on enterprise class Wi-Fi equipment and artificial intelligence applications.
After several years of share gains, shipments of cloud-managed access points did not gain share in 2021. The report delves into the issues unfolding in the market that are contributing to this trend.
About the Report
The Dell’Oro Group Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Reports offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Enterprise Outdoor and Indoor markets, Wireless LAN Controllers with tables containing manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments by the following wireless standards: 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6 and 6E [6 GHz]), 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) Wave 1 vs. Wave 2, 802.11n, and historic IEEE 802.11 standards. The Enterprise market is forecast by Cloud vs. Premises Managed, as well as by macro region of the world. To purchase these reports, please contact us by email at dgsales@delloro.com.
