Companies Up Spending for Wireless Infrastructure, Apps

Wireless technologies are becoming an integral part of the overall corporate IT strategy worldwide, as companies build on-campus networks and seek a secure way of supporting remote workers, a market research firm said Wednesday.

Spending on wireless infrastructure and application services is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 12.4 percent from 2005 to 2010, when it's expected to reach $56.7 billion, International Data Corp. said.

The use of managed services is expected to increase in both the enterprise and service provider markets, IDC said. Spending by the former will be driven by IT managers seeking a more cost effective means of supporting wireless users, while the latter will see managed services as a way to lower operating costs by outsourcing certain tasks. In addition, increased use of the networks will drive demand for optimization services.