The exceptional growth of wireless local area networks (WLANs) in the enterprise has been reshaping the way companies view Wi-Fi. Gone are the days of "lobby Wi-Fi," characterized by a few access points (APs) designed for simple convenience and for occasional access and guests. A paradigm shift in worker behavior is motivating businesses to explore enterprise wireless LAN architectures where wireless rather than wired Ethernet is the primary network access technology.

Employee habits are evolving from working at a stationary computer to having mobile work options characterized by combinations of laptops, smartphones and tablets. This shift, which helps enable telecommuting and the rise of powerful consumer-oriented, app-centric devices, has empowered a growing subset of workers to use wireless as their primary or only means of access.