Wireless-N To Usher in Union of Wi-Fi, Cellular

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The advent of wireless-N technology could be the kick in the pants that spurs the market for VoIP solutions that tie Wi-Fi and cellular calling together, solution providers said.

The buzz around fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) has been strong, as many customers can see the benefits of unifying enterprise and cellular calling on a single device that seamlessly switches between the two technologies. That means, for example, that a call initiated on the cellular network can transfer to the Wi-Fi network without interruption once a user is in range. At the same time, users also gain access to all of their enterprise calling features, directories and data applications on their mobile phones.

Still, few solution providers are seeing that hype turn into sales today.

"We're seeing some of it, but there's not a whole lot of traction yet," said Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology, a St. Louis solution provider that partners with Cisco Systems.

Many solution providers and industry observers agree that the FMC market, while promising, is still immature.

"It is in the very early-adopter stage. People want to talk about it, and I know that it is on our roadmap, because there [is a need] for reliable solutions," said Rohit Mehra, product line director for enterprise wireless solutions at 3Com, Marlborough, Mass. "The 12 to 24 month horizon looks a little more realistic for broader adoption," Mehra said.

Indeed, less than 2 percent of enterprises in the United States and Canada have deployed FMC solutions, according to recent research from Yankee Group.

One technology expected to provide some giddyup to the nascent space is the 802.11n standard for high-speed wireless networking. Enterprise-class products based on the draft of the standard are just beginning to hit the market, ahead of ratification of the standard by the IEEE, which is expected in September 2008.

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