Survey: WLAN Becoming More Pervasive In Enterprises

Wireless LANs will become more pervasive in enterprises, according to a survey released this week by In-Stat/MDR.

The survey of IT managers found increasing budgets for wireless LAN equipment that will lead to adding more access points and giving more employees access. That led the research firm to conclude that WLANs are on their way to becoming a pervasive part of enterprise networks instead of simply overlays to the networks.

The survey found that, currently, 16 percent of enterprises have between 10 and 50 access points (APs). However, that number increased to 21 percent of enterprises when the same question was asked about future deployments.

Similarly, the survey found that, currently, up to half of the employees have access to the WLAN in 14 percent of enterprises. That number increases to 24 percent of enterprises in which as many as half the employees have access when the IT managers were asked about future deployments.

Respondents generally agreed that their budget for wireless LANs would be increasing but cited security concerns as the top reason for not expanding their WLANs faster, according to the survey. The survey found that a majority of respondents either already have deployed voice-over-WLAN or plan to do so in the future.The survey was conducted with 312 respondents, according to In-Stat.