New York, NY, September 22, 2008 - The business case for Voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) in the enterprise is no longer a mystery, and the key to successful deployment is to focus on the infrastructure capabilities, rather than debate device features. This is the finding of Voice over WiFi in the Enterprise, a new report released this month by Aberdeen Group.

For this report, Aberdeen surveyed over 200 enterprises, and the data provides helps to quantify the business benefit of VoWLAN. It also found that infrastructure-related characteristics are the critical factors for success, more so than devices and applications. Most important among these are the WLAN system's ability to maximize coverage, roaming, data-and-voice co-existence, and overall reliability of the WiFi connection; but bolstering any one of these without the others, will also prove unsuccessful.

The report found that best-in-class organizations that have done a good job of VoWLAN implementation achieved a 51% increase in workforce productivity and a 26% reduction in cellular service costs. Organizations that have done a poor job of implementation have realized less than half of the increase in productivity and reduction in costs compared with best-in-class companies.

But what are the secrets to their success? The research found that the best-in-class roll-outs, such as those at Commerce (CA) Casino (the report's featured case study), recognize that voice and data must co-exist on the same investment, and therefore seek technologies that maximize their performance by going beyond the traditional "QoS optimization" discussion. In addition, these companies have placed the highest design priorities on breadth of coverage, seamlessness of mobility, and connection stability. This is different from the traditional attention paid to device features and debates. Bottom line, the right infrastructure will provide the flexibility to choose any desired mix of devices, without limitations.

"Thanks to our Channel Blanket™ WLAN technology, the often-cited hurdles to voice over WiFi are eliminated, since we remove the complexities and performance trade-offs inherent in other WLAN offerings," said David Confalonieri, VP of marketing at Extricom. "Voice is a demanding and unforgiving application, and the Extricom system gives enterprises the always-on, mobile Wi-Fi connection necessary to deploy a truly multi-service infrastructure and maximize the wireless investment."

To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit the Aberdeen website.