Wi-Fi roadshow to tempt firms into wireless

The events will be held in Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Reading and Edinburgh, and are dubbed the "Wi-Fi Transforming Business Seminar Series".

At the roadshows, representatives from companies such as The Cloud, Intel, Alcatel and IBM will try to persuade IT managers and chief information officers that they should spend money installing Wi-Fi networks in the office or equipping their workforce with 802.11-compatible laptops.

"Despite greater proliferation of Wi-Fi enabled devices and significant press and analyst interest, evidence suggests that IT managers do not know what the potential benefits of wireless LANs are, let alone how to get started," according to events' organisers.

"Enterprise IT directors and IT managers will leave these events with substantially increased knowledge of wireless LANs, including case studies demonstrating ease of deployment and the value of specific applications, in addition to critical return on investment information," said the organisers, in a statement.

Attendance is free, with lunch thrown in, but pre-registration is required. Full details are available here.

The first roadshow will place in Manchester on 21 January. This is shortly before BT begins its Wireless Broadband Week, which will give users free access to its Openzone network between 26 January and 1 February.