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Cisco Systems to expand WLAN business in China

By Li Huayu and Sun Xiaohui (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-03-15 13:58

Bob O'Hara, a technical leader inCisco Systems Inc.'s wireless networking business unit, pictured a promising future for China's WLAN (wireless local area network) development, and shared Cisco's future WLAN plans in China, in an interview with Chinadaily.com.cn during the IEEE 802 LMSC Plenary Session held on March 12-16 in Orlando, the United States.

O'Hara once led the team that wrote the 802.11 standard, which was created by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to govern wireless networking. In 2004, he was selected by Network World as one of the "50 Most Powerful People in Networking", and distinguished by the publication as an industry "standards setter" for his role in the development of the original 802.11 protocol. The following is the full text of the interview.

Q: What's your impression of China's growth?

A: My impression of China's growth is that it is one of the most vital countries and economies in the world.

Q: The global market of WLAN is experiencing a boom. As an expert, what do you think of the situation in China? What's the opportunity and challenge for the country?

A: I think China represents an enormous opportunity for WLAN. As a means to provide inexpensive, high speed, mobile, network communications to a large number of people, requiring a proportionately small investment in infrastructure, WLAN could have been envisioned solely for the Chinese market.

The opportunity for WLAN is to provide the technology that allows the Chinese people to integrate high-speed network communications into the way that they live, work, learn, and play. The challenge for WLAN in China is to provide the benefits of high speed, mobile communications to the Chinese market in a cost-effective manner, while deploying it rapidly enough and in such a large number of locations that it is immediately useful to a large number of users.

Q: In 2006, the value of the global WLAN market was estimated at US$5 billion. Some research organizations predict that the market scale will maintain an annual growth rate of around 40 percent in the next few years. What do you think of this?

A: The thought of 40 percent growth rates both astound and terrify me. I am astounded at how widely WLANs are adopted, by professionals and children, shopkeepers and students. I am terrified by the sheer numbers that are represented by a 40 percent annual growth rate. However, this growth rate brings WLANs closer to my dream of a universal, high speed, wireless communication system that makes any information available to the people needing that information, anywhere and at any time.