Wireless market growing 18%

Wellingborough, UK – World shipments of industrial products that are wireless-enabled are growing 18% (CAGR) to exceed 3m in 2015, estimates IMS Research, which is preparing a report on the market.

Many users consider installing wireless communication very valuable, and are seeing a return on investment within a year, according to IMS. Future growth, it said, will be driven by finding new use cases for wireless.

“After end users have made the initial investment in wireless infrastructure, expanding wireless into more and more applications becomes even increasingly attractive” said automation analyst Toby Colquhoun.

Amid the high demand for wireless hardware, IMS warns that confusion over different wireless technologies still remains an issue for end users in the process automation sector.

However, the lack of standardisation will become more important in future applications with a longer payback period, the firm notes: “End users have to be certain that they can source replacement parts for many years, if investment in these applications is to be attractive.”