Wi-Fi fights back against WiMax with 100Mbps

With every man and his dog rushing to proclaim that the advent of WiMax will mean the death of Wi-Fi, proponents of the most popular local area wireless technology believe there's a healthy future ahead for it - and it doesn't depend on the laptop.

Ajay Mishra, manager of the WLAN service providers solution desk at Cisco, said Wi-Fi has already become a must-have for the enterprise.

"Wireless LAN has really moved to business critical," he said. "Voice is becoming the primary application."

A standards body is set to ratify 802.11n by September next year, giving Wi-Fi a throughput of 100Mbps and helping to bolster its potential uses in bandwidth-heavy situations.

Mobiles are also targeting Wi-Fi, according to Mishra. "Most tier one, tier two [mobile handset makers] and most of the PDA vendors are working on these [converged handsets]," he said. "What this is doing is driving wireless LAN applications from vertical to horizontal, especially on the voice side."

BT has already eyed up taking fixed-line broadband out of the PC with the ongoing Project Nevis, and the Wi-Fi Alliance believes there's a similar future for wireless. Franz Hanzlik, MD of the Wi-Fi Alliance, believes converged devices and consumer electronics leave the technology with more room to expand.

"We're starting to now see opportunities to move beyond the PC and into a couple of very, very interesting sets of opportunities," he said.

"Look at what's happened with digital cameras on phones... we're seeing a future very much similar for Wi-Fi on these devices."

The Alliance is also hoping that CIOs will opt to use mobile over Wi-Fi to save cash on their mobile bills.

David Cohen, senior marketing manager at hotspot provider Broadreach, said: "Wi-Fi has had a lot of success from the productivity angle - it's a real dollars and cents issue."

And, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance's Hanzlik, the WiMax and Wi-Fi bodies aren't at each other's throats: "We have a very good relationship with the WiMax Forum - we're trying to find areas where the technology is complementary."