Industry experts agree that the convergence of voice and Wi-Fi in general and dual-mode cellular and Wi-Fi phones in particular will help drive wireless LAN deployment throughout carpeted areas and industries. Enterprises want to reduce cellular bills while unifying and simplifying communications.

"The wireless carriers are responding with in-building discounts, but enterprises want control," says Ellen Daley, vice president and research director at Forrester. However, the carriers are struggling to come up with a business case for supporting the dual-mode phones. They paid a large fortune - perhaps too much - for their spectrum, and a service that lets users roam into a free zone when they enter their workplace cannibalizes the bottom line.

"It's going to be at least two years before the dual-mode services really take off," says Aaron Vance, senior analyst with Synergy Research.

Meanwhile, businesses aren't exactly holding their breath. The University of Utah Health Sciences Center (UUHSC) is starting to deploy the Vocera badge phones on its WLAN infrastructure, but only in the clinical areas.

And Bo Mendenhall, manager of information security at UUHSC, doesn't see much interest in the emerging dual-mode phones. "Everyone already has a cell phone, and additional repeaters have been installed within the hospital to provide better in-building coverage," he reports.