10Meters News Report

March 28, 2001 – Wireless is moving rapidly into corporate America by way of its data centers, according to a new study of IT professionals, and the impact is already being seen in upcoming spending plans.

In the study published Tuesday by the Data Center Institute, 1 in 4 corporate data centers is already using wireless technologies and that figure will increase to nearly 40 percent by the beginning of next year.

Of those surveyed, 40 percent said wireless applications are "triggering significant" changes in their buying plans:

– 61 percent said their organizations need to purchase additional software to accommodate wireless technology;

– 14 percent said spending on new storage-related solutions will increase;

– 9 percent said they expect increases in spending for wireless consultants.

The Data Center Institute, formed by AFCOM, the leading membership organization for enterprise data center managers, conducted its survey in early March among 300 senior managers at major data centers in North America.

"Wireless applications are being embraced in a fundamental way by large corporate buyers of information technology," said Leonard Eckhaus, president of AFCOM, "and while the adoption rates are not at the high levels predicted by some in the last few years, a significant number of enterprise buyers will be involved with this technology in the very near future."

AFCOM, established in 1981, is made up of information-technology managers and executives from America's Fortune 500 companies. The Data Center Institute was founded this year by AFCOM to keep the data center management industry informed about technological changes. For more information, visit AFCOM www.afcom.com.