As low prices and wireless connectivity continue to drive the trend in the midmarket toward mobile PCs, 60 percent of midsize businesses (MSBs) in North America will deploy wireless LANs (WLANs) within their premises by the end of 2003, according to Gartner Inc.

"'Supporting the access requirements of mobile workers is becoming a serious concern for midsize businesses'" said Jim Browning, vice president and research director for Gartner. "'Demand for wireless Internet access in the home, the office and in public places is growing rapidly, while PC vendors are packaging wireless capability in their products. These factors are driving the adoption of next-generation wireless solutions in midsize businesses.'"

MSBs that have invested in WLAN technology to explore its flexibility and to reduce operating costs will experience some soft benefits and will probably break even on their investment in two or three years. However, there is a bigger opportunity to improve return on investment by linking WLANs with the appropriate enterprise applications, such as enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and customer relationship management. Through 2004, more than 60 percent of all WLAN implementations will include some type of extension to vertical applications.

Source: "Gartner Says Midsize Businesses Embracing Wireless LANs to Increase Business Efficiencies," July 30, 2003

The number of public wireless LAN (WLAN) hot spots has risen from just over 1,200 in 2001 to more than 71,000 in 2003, but there are still not enough hot spot locations to meet user needs, according to Gartner Inc.

"'With just 2.5 million hot spot users in 2002, the vast majority of these (91 percent) were infrequent uses attracted by opportunities to use a service just once or twice, often free of charge,'" said Ian Keene, vice president in Gartner's telecommunications group. "'Many more hot spot locations are needed if user numbers are to rise greatly.'"

There will be a rapid increase in retail hot spots in 2003 and 2004, peaking in 2005. "'However, some of these hot spots will not succeed because they fail to attract enough customers, or because customers use the service for long periods without spending enough money on goods and services,'" Keene said. "'Critical mass, however, could come sooner if billing interoperability is achieved, an effort clearly in the sights of those committed to the business.'"

Source: "Gartner Says Simplistic Focus on Hot Spot Profits Misguided, Rationales for Growth Are More Complex," June 25, 2003

Worldwide wireless LAN equipment shipments totaled 19.5 million units in 2002, a 120 percent increase from 2001 shipments of 8.9 million units. However, end-user spending increased just 29 percent in 2003 because of falling prices on equipment.

"'As one of the few growth areas in network equipment, the wireless LAN market is attracting a large number of vendors. The resulting competition is forcing prices down, benefiting end-users by creating a wide choice of low-cost products,'" said Andy Rolfe, principal analyst for Gartner's worldwide telecommunications and networking group.

"'Demand for the benefits of mobile access to corporate applications will continue to drive strong growth in the sales of wireless LAN equipment. The market requires multi-vendor compatibility, since wireless LAN adapters are being increasingly integrated into new mobile PCs,'" said Rolfe. "'However, the standards are as yet incomplete, particularly with regard to security. End-users and wireless LAN service providers should not rely on overly proprietary features, but should employ standard wireless LAN networks and provide security at higher layers.'"

Source: "Gartner Says Worldwide Wireless LAN Equipment Shipments Experienced Triple-Digit Growth While Prices Continued to Fall in 2002," June 16, 2003

"'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.'"

"'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.'"

"'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.'"

Source: " Gartner Says Frequent Users of Wireless LANs Will Total 4.2 Million in 2003," March 26, 2003