3Com will lay out its strategy for wireless LANs and WANs next week in Las Vegas at the NetWorld+Interop conference.

Included will be a wide range of equipment that provides 11-Mbps wireless LAN connections, lower-speed connectivity to PalmPilot devices, and wireless access devices to let service providers deliver Internet access to companies and telecommuters.

Later this spring, 3Com plans to ship a CDMA card for its Total Control remote-access concentrator, which will let cellular carriers provide IP-based virtual private networks and other data services to their subscribers. This summer, PalmPilot VII will be released with wireless Internet access through 3Com's Palm.Net Internet access service.

Late this year two wireless LAN systems--the AirConnect system for business networks and the HomeConnect system for small offices/home offices--will be released. 3Com is leapfrogging the current generation of 1-Mbps and 2-Mbps wireless LAN connections by supporting the IEEE 802.11 High Rate specification for 11-Mbps wireless connections.

Nokia is also expected to unveil a wireless-LAN system based on the 802.11 specification at N+I next week, though the company declined to provide details by press time.

Though wireless LAN equipment has been around for years and prices have steadily dropped, the vast majority of companies have shied away from deploying wireless data equipment. "Wireless LANs have long been a technology looking for the market, and that continues today," says Phil Redmond, analyst at the Yankee Group in Boston.