Digiland has expanded its networking portfolio, signing on with networking vendor, Linksys, for its complete range of networking products.

The vendor is tipping 2003 to be a big year in the SME networking market as broadband and wireless technology comes into its own.

The vendor will release its latest product, the 802.11g wireless access point, in April. Linksys is also launching a wireless projector kit, so users can stream video without having to plug into VGA port or reboot the system.

Other products in the Linksys range include USB accessories, network attached storage, the PowerLine and Homelink networking series and broadband and wireless products.

“We predict the 802.11g products will sell like hotcakes,” Linksys director for broadband and wireless, Andrew Tay, said. "The cost of wireless technology is coming down. It is now only about 10 per cent more expensive than wired technologies to buy, but you also have the advantage of immediate implementation with no loss of productivity.”

Digiland joins Ingram Micro, Multimedia Technology and BlueChip Infotech. The distributor’s national presence and its worldwide association with Linksys made it an obvious choice as a channel partner, Tay said.

“Digiland has a presence in four states and they will be distributing our complete networking solutions," he said.

Digiland business development manager, David Sandquest, said the deal would also complete the distributor’s own product range because it covered the SMB and SOHO markets.

“We only have one other networking product and that’s high end,” he said.

Sandquest said the Linksys range would work well in applications such as warehousing.

“To put RF (radio frequency) in is very expensive – wireless is far simpler,” he said. “We are even toying with it ourselves.”