July 21, 2006—As enterprises seek to reap the benefits of mobility, 64 percent of businesses intend to increase wireless local-area network (WLAN) deployment during the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Gartner, Inc.
In October and November 2005, Gartner asked 200 networking and business technology organizations in North America and Europe about their views on WLAN technology. Respondents identified their reasons for adoption, the extent of deployment, concerns about using WLANs and the problems encountered.
A total of 44 percent of respondents said the primary reason to deploy a WLAN was improving productivity with mobility. Twenty-one percent said the primary reason was to provide access to places not possible to wire, while 13 percent of respondents thought wireless networks were a less-expensive or simpler way to deploy LAN connectivity, or they considered using WLANs to improve efficiency in specific business processes or operations.
Security was considered to be among the top five concerns in adopting WLANs by 95 percent of respondents, and 60 percent of respondents do not believe they have adequate security for their wireless environment. The second-biggest concern was the management of WLANs. This was more important for businesses that had already deployed networks than for those about to do so or still at the planning stage.
Additional information is available in the Gartner report “User Survey Report: Wireless LANs, North America and Europe, 2005.” The report provides analysis and survey results around WLAN adoption plans, equipment vendors and deployment concerns. The report is available on the Gartner Web.
