Business use of wireless networking will push up the total cost of ownership (TCO) of notebooks by three or four per cent, analysts have warned.

According to Gartner, by 2005 80 per cent of all commercial notebooks sold will have wireless functionality.

Leslie Fiering, research vice president at the analyst, explained that rapid end user adoption is happening with or without the consent of enterprises because the ability to get quick, easy connections to the internet or the corporate network is too compelling to ignore.

But Fiering warned in a statement: "Enterprises need to understand the cost elements of using Wi-Fi in notebooks so they can budget realistically and apply best practices to manage the TCO."

The notebook operating system and the type of user have the biggest impact on TCO.

Fiering claimed that Windows XP tends to have a lower TCO for Wi-Fi because of its easier connection set-up, ability to detect Wi-Fi access points and greater robustness than Windows 2000.

"The result is fewer calls to the service desk, lower end-user operations costs and less downtime," he said.

Users who travel less and use their notebooks at home a few nights a week have a lower Wi-Fi TCO than travelling workers or road warriors who do the majority of their work outside the traditional office environment.

Gartner recommends businesses to follow these best practice notes when developing a Wi-Fi policy: