Networking company 3Com SA will install a wireless network, valued at more than R1 million, at the Microsoft Tech-Ed Africa 2001 conference, on from 9 to 12 September at Sun City.
Tech-Ed Africa is Microsoft`s premier technical education event. This year, the 1 400 IT professionals and developers who are expected to attend the conference will have the option to connect via a laptop or PDA (personal digital assistant) device to the wireless network. To facilitate this, 3Com wireless PCMIA cards will be available to delegates.
Debbie Hunter, marketing manager at 3Com SA, says wireless networking is fast becoming an important business tool, its acceptance driven by the need for mobile connectivity both in and out of the office environment.
She outlines the network`s configuration: "Approximately 10 access points will be deployed within the Sun City Entertainment Area, which will give a broad spread of wireless connectivity throughout the complex.
"The wireless access points will cover zones of connectivity in much the same way as cellphone towers provide overlapping circular reception areas.
"As the delegates roam through the conference centre, their wireless network card will attach to the access point with the strongest signal allowing them to have permanent connectivity to the network," she says.
Lauren Bard, Tech-Ed Africa project manager at Microsoft South Africa, says: "The support of key companies, such as 3Com, enables us to ensure that Tech-Ed Africa continues to meet - and perhaps supersede - even the highest international standards for an event of this nature."
According to research group International Data Corporation (IDC) the international wireless networking market came of age in 2000, with sales totalling nearly $1.1 billion, a 79.5% year-on-year increase. IDC predicts that revenues in this market will hit $3.2 billion by 2005, despite a softening global economy.
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