Use of VoWLAN will triple by 2007, according to a new study by London-based Infonetics Research. Currently about 10 percent of organizations have VoWLAN, and this number will increase to 31 percent in the next two years. The growing availability of VoIP handsets will provide the main impetus for this growth. A few weeks ago the Economist predicted that IP telephony will bring about the end of traditional telephony. Infonetics' Richard Webb agrees: "The traditional model of time- and distance-based pricing for voice calls is being eroded by VoIP, and as VoIP goes wireless, it presents an opportunity for enterprise users and a challenge for operators." He adds: "Whilst increasing employee mobility and productivity are currently the top reasons for deploying WLANs, voice over WLAN is a growing driver and is potentially disruptive."

Among the study's other findings:

• During the next three years, 57 percent of small, 62 percent of medium, and 72 percent of large organizations in North America will use VoWLAN by 2009
• The leading barriers to WLAN adoption are security and privacy concerns
• Intranet or VPN access and Internet access for guests top the list of applications implemented over WLANs
• Wired LAN backup and Asset and RFID tracking are already seen as promising applications
• 44 percent of survey respondents deploy and manage their APs separately, without the use of WLAN switches; by 2007, as centralized control architectures is adopted, the number of WLAN switch ports deployed grows significantly

For more on  Infonetics latest study:
- see Infonetics press release

ALSO: An optimal blend of OFDM and CDMA technologies, implemented across local and wide area networks, will drive growth of wireless data and content for enterprises and consumers. This is one of the conclusions of a new study by Rysavy Research and Datacomm Research. Report