Experts say businesses do not need WLAN, and they see hi-tech evolution security problems as a stumbling block
Hong Kong is taking cautious strides towards becoming a wireless world. A dense and highly wired city already, Hong Kong's case for corporate wireless LAN deployment is not strong, industry experts say.
John Chiu, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association, said local wireless development in the past year had centred on short-messaging service (SMS) and multimedia service (MMS) applications for customer relationship management purposes, while 802.11b corporate adoption had been limited.
WLAN technologies developed around the common 802.11 protocol use radio frequencies to transmit data between a corporate network and an end-user's laptop, PDA or other device. The radius for these short-range networks is typically within 10 to 100 metres.
WLANs have become popular among many tech-savvy home users, driving a modest Wi-Fi boom in Hong Kong. This has been further fuelled in high-profile moves by companies such as Pacific Coffee and Starbucks to deploy WLAN hotspots in partnership with PCCW.
McDonald's will also roll out Wi-Fi hotspots with iPass at some of its popular locations.