public function getManufacturerArticleCount($sManufacturerId)
    {
        // current category unique ident
        $sActIdent = $this->_getUserViewId();

        // loading from cache
        $aManufacturerData = $this->_getManufacturerCache();
        if (!$aManufacturerData || !isset($aManufacturerData[$sManufacturerId][$sActIdent])) {
            $iCnt = $this->setManufacturerArticleCount($aManufacturerData, $sManufacturerId, $sActIdent);
        } else {
            $iCnt = $aManufacturerData[$sManufacturerId][$sActIdent];
        }

        return $iCnt;
    }