Air Time: Enterprise Wi-Fi: Obstacles And Opportunities: Page 2 of 2

When we asked respondents which of about 20 features and functionalities were important in an enterprise-class WLAN product, the answer was clear: all of them. Security features were judged most important, followed by upgradeability of products to meet future standards, and centralized management. Items judged least important--though still ranked as desirable-- included automated site-survey planning, help desk monitoring and management-oriented reporting tools. We found it interesting that while there was relatively little disagreement across subsamples regarding features and functionality, the item that ranked highest was integrated firewall services: Resisters considered this important, while strategic adopters felt it was significantly less important.

When we asked about the importance of certain standards, we were disappointed, though not shocked, to see that 802.11a lagged in importance, though it was rated significantly more important among the strategic adopters than the resisters. On the other hand, there was very little variation between groups regarding the importance of 802.11n. That suggests a significant proportion of respondents think they can just skip 802.11a and wait for 802.11n. As we've stated in the past, we think this is a big mistake.

Given the relatively small sample size of our survey and the fact that the sample is skewed toward large organizations, it would be a mistake to overgeneralize these results. Nonetheless, they do provide interesting insights about adoption of Wi-Fi in the enterprise. It's clear that users are demanding wireless services, which puts IT in a difficult position, concerned about security, standards and investment protection. The vendors that do the best job of addressing these concerns are likely to garner considerable future business.