Speaking to The Financial Express, Gary Mink, wireless business development manager of Lucent Technologies, said, "India is right now hungry for wireless technologies and solutions, a lot of different technologies are being introduced here, especially for the corporate segment." He was, however, reluctant to divulge the expected growth in figures.

The strong and continuous growth witnessed in data collection, educational and healthcare segments, would require linking up of organisations over a `wire-free' network. The emergence of technology for these applications, coupled with the need for connectivity to desktops, would directly and indirectly catalyse the development of wireless technology in the country, Mink said.

Speaking about the existing infrastructure in the country, he said that it wouldn't be major a bottleneck as the wireless technology would bypass by creating its own networks. This would enable transfer of voice and video over a WAN or LAN, enabling communication -- which would be the catchword of business in the next millennium -- over a very large area, facilitating both wired and wireless networking, Mink added.

Emergence of WinCE and smaller devices would be another major trend in the next millennium, which would help provide faster and reliable information, apart from mobility in the office, he said.

Talking about the world PC market, he said that it is poised to grow in leaps and bounds in the year 2000, especially PCs which are used in homes. "The mobile computer and notebook markets all over the world would also witness a quantum jump," Mink said.

Wireless is an extension of the existing cable network, and would be essential for mobility and by the year 2008, about 1 billion people would be connected over a network without wires. Emergence of hybrid networks and ISPNs on wireless LANs, would be the technologies that would revolutionalise the wireless markets in the country.

Speaking about the recent launch of Lucent Technologies' WLAN PC card, he said that the product was targeted at the transportation, healthcare and other corporate segments in the country.