Staid Alan Greenspan talked of "irrational exuberance" to describe the late-1990s dot-com craze, and almost-as-staid research group In-Stat says that consumers and businesses alike have shown an "insatiable demand" for wireless networking technology, thus helping drive up annual unit sales of WiFi equipment to more than 100 million chipsets in six years. In-Stat estimates that WiFi device shipments are enjoying an "explosive" 64 percent average yearly growth rate. "WiFi has already crossed the 100 million unit sales mark for 2005, and we forecast shipments of approximately 120 million chipsets this year," said In-Stat's Gemma Tedesco. "This is a significant milestone for such a young technology, and the Wi-Fi Alliance has played a strong role in helping Wi-Fi gain traction."

Since March 2000 the Wi-Fi Alliance has certified more than 2,200 products. "WiFi has truly come of age," said Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "Today more than 90 percent of notebook computers are WiFi enabled, and as we look ahead, there are seemingly limitless opportunities due to the insatiable consumer and enterprise demand for the technology. We expect the next milestones will come even faster as WiFi becomes integrated into consumer electronics and mobile handsets."

For more on this WiFi milestone:
- see this vnunet report

ALSO: Yesterday the Wi-Fi Alliance released new figures showing that 120 million WiFi chipsets were sold in 2005. Release