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VARs Hop On Wi-Fi And Cellular Convergence: Page 2 of 6

Other vendors such as Meru Networks, Nortel Networks and Trapeze Networks also are bolstering their portfolios and preparing VARs to capitalize on the emerging FMC market.

The idea that users could replace separate desktop and cellular phones with a single mobile device that provides access to enterprise VoIP calling features and messaging applications is extremely attractive to a wide variety of customers, especially as an increasing amount of business is conducted via mobile phones, solution providers said.

Brent McLeod, director of sales at Adaptive Communications, an Aruba partner in Portsmouth, N.H., said he expects productivity gains from Wi-Fi/cellular convergence to drive sales.

"I'll be able to do four-digit dialing on my cell phone regardless of where I am, and I won't have to dial four different phone numbers to find someone," McLeod said.

In a recent survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey of 110 IT decision makers from companies with 1,000 or more employees, 28 percent of respondents said more than half of their organization's employees use mobile phones for business calls. Nine percent of respondents said more than half of their organization's employees use their mobile phones as their primary business phone.