Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Corporate use to drive WLAN uptake

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:34:14 -0500

Posted to the site on 27-Mar-03

Corporate use to drive WLAN uptake

The mobile industry will benefit from the rapid adoption of wireless LANs (WLANs), with
the number of frequent WLAN users in North America growing from 4.2 million in 2003 to
more than 31 million in 2007, according to Gartner.

"As more and more applications are built requiring broadband connections, the possibility
of more than 100,000 'hot spots' within the next five years is an innovation that cannot
come too soon," said Ken Dulaney, vice president and research director for Gartner.
"However, due to the need to wait until a large enough population is equipped with WLAN
capability, profitability for hot spot providers will be stalled for three or four years."

Gartner analysts said businesses should deploy 802.11b now. In most cases, businesses will
be satisfied with performance over the long term, and 802.11b will be the technology of
choice for hot spot frequenters. However 802.11a, in combination with 802.11g, will begin
to replace 802.11b purchases in early 2004. The additional bandwidth will be used for new
applications such as voice over IP and streaming video.

"When they mature in 2004, 802.11a WLANs will offer significant technological advantages
over 802.11b networks," said Dulaney. "Some of the advantages include link rates of up to
54 Mbps, lack of interference from Bluetooth and consumer devices operating in the crowded
2.4 GHz band, and the availability of up to 13 channels in North America and more in
European markets."

According to Gartner, more than 50% of all WLAN implementations will take place within the
vertical markets through 2004.
"The applications for WLANs in vertical markets are endless," said Dulaney. "Quantifiable
results can easily be measured by baselining nonwireless productivity and costs and
measuring them against wireless-based communications systems."
Among some of the vertical industries taking advantage of the growing WLAN market are
education, healthcare and warehouse/manufacturing.
"Wireless use in high schools and higher education is helping to evolve teaching methods
with more Web-based use in class, with online testing as a result," Dulaney said. "The use
of wireless in healthcare is decreasing costs for network systems, adding mobility for
recuperating patients, decreasing patient stays and increasing healthcare benefits. It is
also adding to accuracy of medications and is used for real-time patient tracking."
Dulaney added, "In warehouses and manufacturing, a WLAN decreases the number of inventory
specialists required, making warehousing systems more efficient, less costly and more
accurate, with analysis of real-time inventory levels."

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