Wireless LAN's Going Mainstream

InfoWorld February 15,1999

Krishna Kuchibhotla

The entry of major LAN vendors into the market and the proliferation of portable computing devices are rapidly increasing the demand for standards and state-of-the-art technology. Wireless LAN's has the potential of providing access to e-mail, Internet and peoples files without having to be connected. Wireless is going mainstream because it’s important for employees and businesses to stay connected wherever they go. It is not entering the market as a replacement for LAN technology but as an alternative. Driving the momentum of the wireless networking is the IEEE 802.11 standard for 2 Mbps wireless LANs. Some of the companies offering the standards-based wireless LAN solutions are Cabletron, Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies.

A survey of the Fortune 2000 clients showed that 80 percent of the companies are either evaluating or installing wireless LANs. However, the cost out-weighed the potential benefits, for example, a Network Interface Card (NIC) that would work with 2 Mbps wireless system costs about $450 while a basic 10 Mbps Ethernet card costs less that $100. It is predicted that these prices for NICs will drop to $200 to $300 in the coming years. But the key to wireless LANs success is believed to come from the fact that it satisfies the customer needs, which is "continuous connectivity".

Wireless LAN Shipments (Source: International Data Corp. and The Strategies Group)