ZDNet UK

CBS INTERACTIVE UK BUSINESS SITES:
BNET UK
silicon.com
ZDNet.co.uk

You are here: ZDNet.co.uk > News > Communications

Mobile working Toolkit

Wi-Fi catches on at construction sites

Richard Shim CNET News.com

Published: 24 Feb 2004 15:17 GMT

The construction site for the St. Regis Museum Tower resembles countless other downtown projects: a jumble of steel, concrete and heavy machinery.

But for several months, perched on a crane high above the work in progress, was a piece of equipment never used in the history of this city's picture-postcard skyline: a wireless hub.

Webcor Builders, the company constructing the 42-story hotel complex, created a wireless network so that engineers and crews could instantly view blueprints and coordinate projects. Although the construction industry has historically been slow to adopt new technologies, the company saw wireless communication as a way to save crucial time and money.

"Competitiveness, especially during the downturn, made us look at how to be more efficient while keeping costs down," said Gregg Davis, Webcor's chief information officer. "We looked at every possible angle to be as efficient as possible, and Wi-Fi was a no-brainer."

So far, much of the corporate Wi-Fi market has been driven by "vertical" industries -- those that address specialised markets, such as construction, education, government and health care. Sales of Wi-Fi products to large businesses reached $869.7m (£465.75m) last year, according to a report the Synergy Research Group released last week, but that market is projected to nearly double to $1.7bn by 2007, as other industries join the trend.

Many large businesses have been reluctant to go wireless because of security concerns and other reasons. But that's expected to change this year, as many of the technologies first tested by vertical industries become commonplace.

"Overall, vertical companies are still the primary buyers, because they realise the potential return on investment right away," said Graham Melville, director of wireless product marketing at Symbol Technologies. Symbol is the No. 2 market share leader, behind Cisco Systems, in the enterprise equipment market and sells gear to businesses.

True to the entrepreneurial spirit that founded Silicon Valley, products Symbol, Cisco and others developed for specific customer projects are driving much of the wireless market.