Supply constraints “a pin in the balloon” for Wi-Fi 6E

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.

CT Bureau