Datamonitor predicts that combined spend by the education sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) on WLAN deployment to reach $126 million by 2008, more than double that of 2004.
WLANs bring benefits
There are a number of top-level economic and educational benefits that are positively impacting the deployment of WLANs in the education sector. According to Datamonitor, these include avoiding wiring issues, reducing networking costs, saving on the costs of continual PC upgrades, making better use of educational facilities and encouraging enrollment by making learning easier and more exciting. Indeed, schools and universities may view the existence of WLAN access as a competitive advantage.
Educational benefits, on the other hand, include meeting students’ expectations, improving classroom communication, improving teaching practices, extending the reach of the network into new areas and providing scope for new and improved teaching practices.
The deployment of WLANs on educational campuses can significantly change teaching practices and student activity. Their use can lead to improved information access and communication due to the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, the high availability of applications from anywhere on site, inherent mobility for students and teachers on campus, the ability for teachers to reconfigure and control the classroom environment, and a variety of teaching opportunities.
Positive outlook for growth
Although budgets for ICT in schools and universities are tight, and WLAN revenues derived from the EMEA education sector currently lag behind North America, Datamonitor expects the market to catch up in the coming three years and predicts revenues from the WLAN deployment in the EMEA education sector to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21% from $58 million in 2004 to $126 million in 2008.
Datamonitor expects a renewed focus in the coming months on networking expenditure, and WLANs will invariably feature as part of institutions’ plans in this regard.
In the past, the biggest inhibitor to WLAN deployment in the EMEA education sector has been equipment cost, though lowering price points (particularly in laptops) are certain to encourage demand. Together with this, 802.11 technology will feature as part of institutions’ renewed focus on networking expenditure in the coming three years thus creating a healthy market opportunity for both WLAN equipment vendors and systems integrators.
Challenges for vendors
Vendors and integrators do still face a number of challenges in targeting the education market with WLAN solutions, however. These include issues relating to performance due to high bandwidth demand, appropriately configuring networks, concerns regarding security (especially given student hackers), inexperience with technology within educational institutions and tight ICT budgets.
Nevertheless, wireless technology has considerable relevance in an educational environment. All in all, the education sector will be a clear revenue growth opportunity for WLAN vendors. Through effective product positioning and advice relating to implementation and management, vendors should reap the rewards.
