Road Warriors Worldwide Say Wireless Computing Technology is Becoming Crucial to Business; 71 Percent Believe Wi-Fi Will Give Business Travelers a Competitive Advantage

Business travelers view wireless computing technology as a business necessity only a year after "hotspots" -- places where people can tap into a wireless Internet connection with their notebook PCs -- became available in cafes, hotels and airports. Today, there are approximately 20,000 hotspots worldwide, a number expected to grow sixfold by 2005.

According to an international survey of business travelers released on September 9 by Intel Corporation, 71 percent of road warriors are convinced that Wi-Fi -- short for wireless fidelity -- will enable business travelers to seize a communications advantage over their competition. While only one in ten road warriors has tried Wi-Fi, nearly 90 percent see wireless computing in their future. A third of Asian road warriors said they plan to try Wi-Fi within the next three to six months.

The survey also revealed that being without Internet access while traveling puts businesspeople in an awkward position with bosses, co-workers and customers who have become accustomed to expect prompt email responses. When working in the office, 31 percent of road warriors reply to email within one hour. When road warriors are traveling, only seven percent respond within that same time frame. Thirty percent of road warriors do not respond to email for 48 hours or more while on a business trip. One third of survey respondents said they have suffered significant consequences -- such as missed meetings, lost revenue, irate customers, disappointed family members and even job termination -- as a result of not having timely access to the Internet while on the road.

While business travelers predictably identified airports (77 percent), hotels (76 percent) and airplanes (60 percent) as the places where they most need hotspots, they also expressed a desire to have wireless Internet access in automobiles, trains and hospitals.

Wireless Computing on the Rise

With built-in Wi-Fi viewed as the next logical step in mobile computing, 70 percent of road warriors said they intend to buy a Wi-Fi-enabled notebook when they make their next notebook PC purchase. Analysts foresee dramatic growth in sales of wireless-enabled notebook PCs. Market research firm IDC predicts that wireless-enabled notebooks will represent 42 percent of all mobile PC sales in 2003 and 95 percent in 2006.

"Road warriors were the first consumers to make cell phones part of their daily business lives more than 20 years ago, and Wi-Fi is following a similar life cycle," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president, Intel Corporation, and general manager of the Intel Communications Group. "Right now, we see business travelers and technology buffs using Wi-Fi, but the technology will spread to general consumers as they become aware of the benefits of true mobile computing."

More details from the Intel "Road Warriors & Wi-Fi" survey is available at www.intel.com/unwire.

About the Survey

The "Road Warriors and Wi-Fi" survey was sponsored by Intel Corporation and conducted under the direction of The Brain Group, an international research and strategy agency. Fieldwork was executed using a proprietary questionnaire on ways frequent business travelers stay in contact with co-workers and clients, and their attitudes toward the opportunities now available through Wi-Fi technology. The survey was fielded with airport intercept interviews among business people who take at least eight to 10 overnight trips a year. The survey sample consisted of 437 such road warriors from around the world representing Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The airports included in the survey are New York (JKF), Atlanta, Seattle and Ottawa, Canada. The margin of error is +/- 4.9 percent.

BUSINESS WIRE