That doesn't mean, however, that it's time to cut the cord on your wired LAN infrastructure. IT managers must remain cautious on a number of fronts. One of the most important is security. It's difficult to justify moving away from Ethernet in its various forms. The technology is bulletproof, ubiquitous and ever faster.
Backward compatibility is never in question.
It also remains cheaper than wireless. Further, the profusion of wireless and handheld devices, notably the Palm, with ever-more sophisticated networking functions could ultimately render the need for separate wireless networking devices a nonissue. Wireless does, indeed, solve meaningful networking problems, particularly at companies where workers change offices frequently or need to bring their PCs into conference rooms while remaining networked. But those are mostly niche applications, or at least applications that should complement, not replace, your installed wired LANs.