Voice Over Wireless Sales To Rocket To $1.1 Billion: Repot

Enterprise voice over wireless local area network (VoWLAN) is poised to enter a dramatic growth curve over the next three years as enterprises continue to streamline their telecommunications infrastructures.

According to InfoTech, which surveyed a panel of 1800 corporate decision makers for its InfoTrack its Mobile Communications in the U.S. Workplace report, revenues from VoWLAN sales will reach $1.1 billion by 2010. Already, some 30% of companies surveyed have implemented VoWLAN somewhere in their organizations, with that number expected to rise to 77% by the end of 2008.

Nevertheless, single-mode, VoWLAN-only phones have excited very little enterprise interest, and InfoTech expects them to remain only a niche product. Te firm reports that organizations are specifically interested in dual-mode cellular/VoWLAN devices that can connect to the corporate LAN as a voice over IP (VoIP) phone in the office, while functioning as a cell phone on the road.

"Cellular/WiFi devices are driving this growth - not the WiFi-only phone," says InfoTech VP Jeanine Sterling said in a statement. "Not only does the number of companies purchasing dual-mode devices increase dramatically but adoption of this handheld within these companies is expected to ripple quickly through once a critical mass of models is available."