Users put their trust in wireless
Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth gaining in popularity, but interoperability and security issues remain
End-users are placing their confidence in technologies such as Wi-Fi, GPRS and Bluetooth, but vendor interoperability and security are still holding the market back, according to the Communications Management Association (CMA).
The findings appear in the latest Communications Market UK report by the CMA, which interviewed 419 IT professionals for the study.
"[Capital expenditure] has risen and a confidence is returning to the market," said a CMA representative.
While 62 per cent of the survey's respondents said web services will be the key enabler for IT usage in the enterprise, wireless technologies also figured highly.
Some 52 per cent of corporates use GPRS, 35 per cent Wi-Fi and 42 per cent Bluetooth, with Wi-Fi usage showing an increase of 21 per cent year on year, driven mainly by an increase in flexible working and the extension of traditional LANs.
But 61 per cent of IT professionals say they have no immediate plans to use 3G.
Richard Dineen, research director at Ovum, said: "There is a strong demand for wireless access from enterprise users. They want access to email, CRM and databases, but I think the problem has been the fact that GPRS hasn't enabled executives to access these things."
While GPRS might not be the answer, 3G is likely to be more attractive, he added.
"GPRS will never fulfil its potential because it's set to be more narrow-band, while 3G is a different proposition. [But] 3G needs to gain greater maturity before it takes off. Enterprises will want to see what it does first," Dineen said.
The report also indicated that broadband is reaching maturity in the enterprise, with 66 per cent of companies using Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line.
However, the report concluded that Ofcom will need to do more work to open up the last mile for further market penetration.