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Wireless Lan Association SEES FCC PROPOSAL AS MAJOR ENDORSEMENT OF THE WIRELESS LAN INDUSTRY FCC's Proposal To Allocate Spectrum For Unlicensed Wireless LANs Will Foster Creation Of New Products & Services, Spur Market Growth. SAN JOSE, CA, (May 16, 1996) — An initial review by The Wireless LAN Association (WLANA) indicates that last week's proposal to allocate spectrum for further unlicensed wireless data communications could result in a substantial boost to the wireless LAN industry. "The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) proposed allocation of additional radio frequency spectrum for unlicensed, short-range high-speed data applications would foster creation of new products and services that could benefit many in both the public and private sector," said WLANA President Abramowitz. "WLANA applauds the foresight exhibited by the FCC in consideration of the issue. There is a rapidly growing market for existing wireless LAN solutions. Allocating additional frequencies will allow vendors to meet the varied needs of future customers," Abramowitz said. The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making on May 6 to make available 350 megahertz of spectrum at 5.15-5.35 GHz and 5.725 - 5.875 GHz for use by a new category of unlicensed equipment called NII/SUPERNet devices. The commission stated that the proposed rules would "foster development of a broad range of new devices, stimulate the growth of new industries, and promote the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete globally by enabling them to develop unlicensed digital products for the world market. Wireless LAN technology has been proven in data collection, point of sale and inventory applications and is gaining popularity in applications that include clinical data capture in hospitals, trading on stock exchange floors, and shared data among students or nomadic project teams. "The allocation of additional frequencies will provide additional product options for the growing list of existing applications, and will help enable wireless video and other bandwidth hungry applications. The end result of allowing shared, unlicensed use of this spectrum allocation will be valuable new services that benefit consumers, our communities, schools, and businesses," Abramowitz said. The Wireless LAN market, estimated between $150 and $230 million in 1995, has recently tripled in size in the past two years. Industry analysts expect the market to reach the $1 billion mark by the year 2000. WLANA is an alliance of 13 leading worldwide suppliers of wireless local area network products and technology who represent more that 95 percent of current wireless LAN industry revenues. WLANA is dedicated to promoting increased awareness and knowledge of wireless LANs among the networking and business communities. The Alliance provides vendor -independent information about the growing number of wireless LAN applications and maintains an educational web site at www.wlana.org.
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