Cisco executives held a press conference basically to say they hope to boost the companys share of wireless LAN markets from 30 percent to “40 to 70 percent.” Many trade mags dutifully reported this nonevent, but none of them mentioned the Sage Research survey of WLAN users heavily touted in Ciscos invitation to the conference. Apparently, journalists have limits.
Interviewees—mostly IT managers—were asked to “estimate the amount of time WLANs save an average user per week.”
The findings? “WLANs enable users to save the most time when responding to e-mail,” says Sage. “By accessing the wireless LAN while in meetings … or other locations, employees are often able to catch up on their e-mail while doing other things.”
And: “None of the organizations … reported any instances of data being intercepted as a result of using the wireless LAN.” But Jerod Huizenga, the reports author, admitted in a phone call that theres no way an organization could know that data was intercepted unless the interceptor turned himself in.
So what can we conclude from Sages wireless LAN user survey? Only that its best to read about it here, in the funny pages.
