Voice over IP on Wi-Fi has been promoted by some vendors and analysts as a killer application, but the adoption of this technology has fallen short of expectations, with significant business and technological obstacles impeding it. In certain vertical markets, including health care and retail, Vo-Fi has delivered healthy return on investment, but the technology has been relatively slow to gain traction in the carpeted enterprise. However, the recent emergence of fixed-mobile convergence solutions based on dual-mode phones capable of operating over both WLANs and cellular networks is breathing new life into this market. As the path to a new age of mobile data and voice services is carved out, this area will become increasingly critical to IT. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of Vo-Fi implementation in the enterprise, drawing from the author's extensive experience with mobility issues, as well as research conducted among technology professionals.
