2008 Wireless LAN State-of-the-Market
Report Series
Webtorials
Editorial/Analyst Division
Lead analyst: Joanie
Wexler
Posted October 2008, Updated December 2008
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Abstract:
In August 2008, the Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Division surveyed the
Webtorials subscriber base for the fifth consecutive year concerning enterprise
wireless LAN (WLAN) deployment plans, attitudes and experiences. This report
series summarizes the findings, which were gathered from a Web-based response
pool of several hundred, geographically diverse Webtorials subscribers
throughout the world. Only responses from individuals who said they are actively
involved with their companies’ WLANs have been included in the results.
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Executive
Summary: Wi-Fi Attitudes Shift
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Summary
paper now available for download
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Part 1 of this Webtorials
State-of-the-Market Report Series |
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WLAN Deployment Trends: Networks, Devices, Security
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Part 2 of this Webtorials
State-of-the-Market Report Series |
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WLANs of some flavor have
been deployed throughout the common areas of many respondents’ organizations
(83%). Like last year, fewer companies (55%) have covered individual workspaces
with Wi-Fi infrastructure. Virtually all respondents said that some number of
their employees carried at least one Wi-Fi-enabled device; in fact, 47% of
respondents said that at least half of their organization’s employee population
had one or more Wi-Fi devices, up from just 34% last year. |
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Enterprise Strategies for 802.11n
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Part 3 of this Webtorials
State-of-the-Market Report Series |
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Discusses enterprise attitudes and plans for deploying
next-generation, high-speed 802.11n wireless LANs (WLANs). Among the key
findings are:
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Acceptance of 802.11n networks in
pre-standard form took a big jump from last year. However, there is relatively
little 802.11n commercially deployed in enterprises today.
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More than a third of respondents are
thinking ahead to all-wireless enterprise access networks as a reason to deploy
802.11n.
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Respondents cited infrastructure and
client upgrade costs as the greatest barrier to 11n deployment. They also still
consider standards ratification delays to be a significant challenge.
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WLAN Application Trends
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Part 4 of this Webtorials
State-of-the-Market Report Series |
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Discusses the
current application and business drivers fueling enterprise adoption of
WLANs. Among the key findings in this report series segment:
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The
drivers behind continued Wi-Fi deployments have remained fairly
consistent for the past five years. Faster access to mobile
employees and improved mobile employee productivity persist as the
top benefits enterprises hope to realize with WLANs.
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The main
Wi-Fi applications currently in use are email and intranet/Internet
access, though enterprises now also have significant experience
under their belts with deploying their core business apps over the
air, too. |
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The
business applications fueling early high-speed Draft 802.11n
deployments are, surprisingly, also fairly traditional: voice over
IP (VoIP), collaboration and growing basic data loads. However,
respondents appear to be planning to take advantage of 802.11n’s
bandwidth with new location and multimedia Wi-Fi applications, as
well. |
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