In-Stat/MDR estimates that mid-sized businesses (those with 100 to 999 employees) would spend more than $12 billion globally on network hardware this year, an increase of almost eight percent over 2003. The key factor influencing this spend is expected to be the increasingly wider distribution of employees across locations, for at least the next five years. Thus, they are expected to invest in improving local area data networks in remote locations (including non-office locations). The mid-sized market is also expected to show increased interest in converged voice and data networks, e.g. VoIP, which would further boost the spending on network hardware, post 2005.
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