Wireless networking gear maker Buffalo Technology has scored its first major U.S. national retailer partnership.
The company, which is a subsidiary of Japan’s Melco Inc., said Monday that CompUSA will carry Buffalo’s 802.11g products in all of its stores. Buffalo’s 802.11g line includes its wireless router, wireless cards, bridge/repeaters, indoor antennas and wireless USB adapter.
Buffalo is one of the first companies to have certified 802.11g products. The recently approved standard offers data rates of up to 54Mbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with 802.11b products.
Morikazu Sano, vice president of Buffalo’s networking division, said that the certification by the Wi-Fi Alliance of the 11g products made this the perfect time to expand its presence in the U.S. market. “We were waiting for the next homerun product to get into retail aggressively,” he said.
Sano believes the partnership with CompUSA will help Buffalo grow its sales and market share and ultimately help it compete with Linksys, the leader in the SoHo/Home wireless networking market.
Buffalo enjoys a 60 percent retail market share in Japan, but trails Linksys in the worldwide market. According to Synergy Research Group, Buffalo had 18 percent of the global market in the second quarter of 2003, while Linksys, which was recently acquired by Cisco, had a 23 percent share.