STAMFORD, Conn.—The enterprise wireless local area network space is picking up steam with 64 percent of businesses indicating they plan to increase WLAN deployments during the next year, according to new research from Gartner Inc.
Nearly half of respondents to the Gartner survey said the primary motivation to deploy a wireless network is to provide access in places where it is not possible to wire equipment, while 13 percent said they believe wireless networks are less expensive and easier to deploy than wired networks.
However, security is one of the major concerns companies expressed about deploying a wireless network, along with system management.
“Although wireless LANs are not a new endeavor, interest in them is still growing. Wireless LANs are becoming a standard part of enterprise networks, covering entire facilities, not just meeting rooms,” said Gartner’s Rachna Ahlawat. “However, as wireless LANs expand from conference rooms to the whole enterprise, concerns about security and network management are rising. We’ve gone from thinking of offices as network nodes to considering each employee as a node on a wired network. Now, every major physical item the company owns is becoming a node on a wireless network.”
