wireless research report india

8/14/2019 Wireless Research Report India

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Study on Adoption of Wireless SolutionsAmong Enterprise Users

in India & Emerging Trends

Location: MumbaiDate: 11th October 2004

Size of Survey: 50 respondents


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Objective of the survey:CXOtoday.com is the countrys first national e-news daily, offering tech-centricdeployment news to those who think, invest and manage IT. Going one step ahead in

providing value-added content to technology managers, we have formulated our firstresearch report to gauge the impact of wireless Internet in the Indian enterprise space.

The objective of this study was to understand the state of adoption of wireless amongenterprise users in our country and to provide glimpses of the emerging trends in thisspace.

Respondents Contacted:The respondents contacted for this survey belonged to the level of the CIOs, CTOs andthe respective heads of IT, spanning diverse industry verticals, such as banking,manufacturing, media, to education, chemicals, etc.

CXOtoday thanks all the respondents who have participated and helped us insuccessfully conducting this survey. We are glad to share the results of this study withour audience.

Results of the Survey:Coming on to the results of the survey, they have taken us by surprise too! Whileadoption of wireless is currently low among enterprise users, what is intriguing is theoptimism shown by companies in investing in wireless in the coming financial year. TheIndian wireless market may well be on its growth path, not without first addressinggnawing concerns of security and cost.

The results of the survey have been presented in a step-by-step synopsis categorized below:

Low Adoption of Wireless Among Enterprises in India

Of the total respondents contacted, wireless adoption among enterprise customers issurprisingly low at 32%, while a significant 68% have not deployed any wirelesssolutions. Despite the fact that the technology debuted several years back, why is that itthat it has failed to penetrate as much asits wired predecessor?

Answers Ishwar Jha, vice president -business technology, Essel Group,The culprits for this poor response towireless are two pronged: First is the lowpenetration of laptops and other mobilitydevices.

Current Adoption of Wireless Among

Enterprises in India

32%

68%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

yes no

%ageofusage


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Most enterprise users still continue to have (98%) desktop PCs for which wireless makesno sense.

The second reason according to Jha is the failure on the part of vendors in positioningthe technology as supplementary to office LAN. In this context, a CIO has difficulty inproving the ROI and justifying the benefits for buying and deploying the wirelessdevices even though the costs are miniscule.

Defends Chidambara, senior manager - business development, ConvergentCommunications (India) Pvt Ltd, which offers networking solutions, WLANs are notalternatives to Wired LANs. They should be viewed as supplementary orcomplementary to wired LAN to provide mobility and flexibility especially to thoseorganizations which have a fairly good laptop density and mobile users within itspremises.

However, admitted Upender Singh- RSM, North and East, Bangladesh and Nepal,3Com- a networking solution provider, said, The concept is growing in India though itis not as momentous. Companies are shying away from adopting wireless in a really bigway.

But the big question is why?

Speaking about the ground realities, S Thiagaraja Manikandan, head-informationtechnology, Agro Tech Foods Limited, stated, The reality staring at our face is that inorder to become really big in India, wireless infrastructure must be able to replace theexisting Ethernet infrastructure.

According to Manikandan, every enterprise today has already wired their buildingthrough concealed fast Ethernet cables (with few select cases on fibre too) along withextra provision for future growth. Remember, this fast Ethernet infrastructure is doingits job well so far. So, where is the large-scale need for disruption immediately?questions Manikandan.

Fast Ethernet technology is much faster compared to current wireless technologies.Hence, the question of replacing Ethernet is very tough, at least in the short term,wondered Manikandan.

He continued, I agree on the advantages suchas mobility of wireless technologies - butpractically most of the corporate staff still usePCs and even the laptop users do not roamaround in their premises with laptops in theirhands.

Level of Importance of Wireless

34%

34%

32%

Low

Moderate

High


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This just about explains why wireless penetration is largely limited to few spots likeconference rooms, the campus backbone, etc., asserted Manikandan.

Corroborating his views are the statistics. In terms of importance, 32% rated it asimportant, while 34% rated it as low and another 34% rated is as moderate on their ITagendas. According to Singh, several factors are preventing enterprises from deployingwireless solutions in a large scale. Wireless has failed to get its due level of importancedue to the presence of these factors, the ace factor being the security aspect.

We now review each concern raised by the respondents beginning with the prime concern-security

Security Is An Ace Concern

Security without doubt tops the list ofconcerns, as evident by the numbers. 76%of the respondents rated security as thetop concern, while for a meagre 24%security was not high priority.

According to Singh, in order tounderstand the security aspect one needsto be familiar with the nature ofdeployments. Says Singh, WLAN isdeployed on two different environments;one is a huge deployment on hotspots,

where security is not looked upon as a keyissue and the second among enterprisesfor providing mobility among users,where security is looked upon as a prime factor.

However, does opening up of network signals over the airwaves place a companysnetwork in a very vulnerable position to intrusion and hacking attempts?

Not necessary, argues Chidambara, if adequate security mechanisms like MACaddress filtering and encryption are put in place, coupled with secure authentication,intrusion is not easy.

No, counter argues Ranajoy Punja, vice president, sales and marketing, Cisco Systems,India, Security options such as Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs), open or shared keyauthentication and static WEP key offer a rudimentary level of access control andprivacy, and at any time each of these can be compromised.

Is Security A Key Area?

76%

24%

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20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

yes no


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Outlining the key components of network security, Punja continued, Elements such assecure connectivity, threat defense, trust and identity with the capability of infectioncontainment and rouge device isolation should be in a single solution.

But is security limited to technology alone?

No, says Manikandan, There are cultural and discipline angles too. Indianenterprises by and large address security from the external threats perspective. Internalthreats are largely ignored and are not monitored closely. And this could be attributedto the "trust based" Indian culture per se. Wireless needs far more internal securitydiscipline too. For e.g., a visitor with a laptop can gain access from internal networkinside your premises.

This would call for additional resources, in terms of manpower, hardware andsoftware. With the extreme cost pressures that CIOs face today, this is a tough call,admits Manikandan.

This leads us to the second concern - cost, which also figures prominently in the CIOs concernlist

Cost Worries- Are they Real or Imaginary?

While most of the respondents wecontacted (70%) did mention that thecost factor served as a deterrent to

deployment of wireless solutions,30% however, contented that costdid not matter as such.

In fact, some respondents who havedeployed wireless solutions termedit as extremely cost effective ascompared to its wired counterpart.Affirms Sundaram Appan, advisorinformation technology and CIO ofPower Products Division of

Hindustan Motors (HM-PPD), Withbetter housekeeping, wireless is relatively easy to maintain. And contrary to generalperception, it has proved to be very cost-effective for us.

Agrees Dinesh Mundhra, system incharge, Pathways World School who has deployedwireless solutions across its academic campus, We have saved approximately 50% ofthe cabling costs.

0%

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30%

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60%

70%

Is Cost A Key Concern?

Series1 70% 30%

yes no


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So, what does the actual picture look like?

According to Singh, prices have fallen by 80% in the last two years; today even small to

medium enterprises can deploy wireless solutions. Agrees Chidambara, Cost hasdrastically reduced by five to six times.

Narrating an example Singh stated, Recently, a very big steel company in India with ahuge campus network evaluated both fiber and wireless connectivity and after carefulevaluation of both the methods, decided to go wireless due to the cost advantages.

However, apart from costs, respondents cited other pesky wireless-specific constraintssuch as speed, radio-signal, traffic management, etc. Dhawal Thakker, deputy manager,PwC, bemoans the fact that apart from the above mentioned concerns, technicalexpertise among solution providers is severely lacking. Says Thakker, We could evenoverlook the cost factor, provided adequate and competent technical skill is available.

After addressing the key concerns, we now take a detour and address issues faced by currentpatrons of wireless solutions

Can Mission-Critical Applications Run On WLAN?

In terms of the nature of applicationsdeployed, from the 32% who havedeployed wireless, surprisingly 44%have deployed mission criticalapplications such as ERP, CRM, etc.

Paradoxically, despite security being akey issue, companies have nothesitated from deploying missioncritical applications.

Meanwhile, 56% -- to be on the saferside -- have chosen non-mission criticalapplications such as mailing solutions.

Explains Singh, The reason thatmission critical applications are not

deployed on wireless connections is because the data throughput is intense andbandwidth limitations prevents companies from deploying such applications.

Punja however feels that WLANs are capable of running all enterprise applications suchas ERP, SCM, Billing and Operations applications, provided the network is well-plannedand designed.

We now briefly compare the various existing protocols used in wireless solutions

44%

56%

0%

10%

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40%

50%60%

mission critical

apps

Non-mission

critical apps

Nature of Apps Deployed on WLAN


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Current Standards In Force

802.11 is a family of specification for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed

by a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

There are currently four specifications inthe family: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b and

802.11g. All four use the Ethernet protocoland CSMA/CA (carrier sense multipleaccess with collision avoidance) for pathsharing.

31% of the respondents we contacted areusing the 802.11b standard (11Mbps). Thisstandard, which supports fewersimultaneous users, uses the same radiosignaling frequency- 2.4 GHz as theoriginal 802.11b.

Says Chidambara, While the 802.llb standard for indoor applications have been madelicense free, other standards need a license.

Meanwhile, the 802.11a and 802.11g both command 19% share equally. While 802.11a,which offers bandwidth up to 54Mbps, in a regulated 5 GHz band has the maximum

speed, 802.11g is the latest to arrive on the wireless scene.

Says Singh, The 802.11g, supporting 54 Mbps, offers the best of both a and b. i.e. highbandwidth and Wi-Fi (interoperability between vendors).

Finally we now take a peek across the emerging trends in wireless spending

Allocation of Wireless in the IT budget

Despite the inherent issues and concerns, which are yet to be ironed out, corporates are

gradually waking up to the benefits of going wireless, though the change may not be asapparent.

The numbers speak for themselves.While 68% were unwilling todisclose, 8% of the respondentsplan to allocate less than 5% towireless.

Wireless Protocol In Force

802.11g

19%

802.11a

19%

802.11b

31%

unspecified

31%

Allocation of Wireless in IT budget

8%

20%

4%68%

10%

Not willing to

disclose


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On the upside, 20% of the respondents plan to allocate 5% to 10% of their IT budget towireless, while 4% plan to allocate more than 10%.

According to Singh, huge deployments are occurring in the hospitality industry. Sectorssuch as hospitals, education, and many media companies too are going wireless.

Says Chidambara, One of the most important aspect of implementing WLAN is goodskill sets such as site survey, design engineering, etc. Those vendors who can only tradethe boxes may be wrongly positioning the technology.

Approximate Spending next FY

In terms of actual spending, while 19% is expected to spend very less on wireless, 6%plan to spend Rs 10-20 lakh.

Accounts Jha, Most of the vendorsare promising new version releaseswith high bandwidth capacitywhich is holding back CIOs toinvest now and compromise laterfor speed and quality.

Meanwhile, 25% plan to shell outRs 20-30 lakh, while a slim 6% planto fork out Rs 50 lakh. Theremaining 44% shied away from

disclosing the budget spend.

Justifies Jha, CIOs are waiting forhigh speed, best of the breedwireless solution to justify the ROIand business benefit.

Agrees Manikandan, The future scenario looks encouraging - highly secure, faster andcheaper wireless products are emerging. Due to this, wireless will pick up pace in thefuture.

We are already seeing few wireless deployment in India. With the user computingdevices shrinking in sizes, yet becoming more powerful through PDAs, sleek laptops,smart phones, etc., which are capable of handling data, internal and external voice, etc.,the wireless adoption will see new heights in the future, predicted Manikandan.

0%

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Appx Spending next FY

Series1 19% 6% 25% 6% 44%

Very

less

10-20

lakhs

20-30

lakhs

50

lakhs

Undis

closed


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According to Manikandan, however, this will take at least a couple of years. Though inthe future CIOs will surely have wireless as part of their IT strategy in the near future -in some cases they could even be modifying their existing IT strategy to accommodate

wireless. "I have no doubt wireless is the future and is here to stay, claimedManikandan.

So what do todays CIOs want from providers of wireless solutions?

Says Manikandan, We expect robust, easy to deploy, much more secured, cost-effectiveand converged/integrated technology from the vendor. Solution providers are expectedto clearly define the benefits and the limitations of their product. In other words, theyshould be transparent.

Vendors are expected to handhold, educate and provide proactive support to the usercommunity - even after post-implementation. Through this they can mitigate most ofour concerns and enable wide-scale wireless adoption, hopes Manikandan.

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