The popularity of Wi-Fi is practically irreversible and continues to be a major investment of small businesses in IT, particularly in light of recent statistics, according to a major voice in the industry.

John Dunn, the editor of Techworld, made his comments following the announcement by ABI Research that Wi-Fi chipset shipments are set to reach one billion by the end of 2011.

He explained: "After going nowhere for years and years, Wi-Fi took off about five years ago as speeds improved and prices plummeted.

"It's a winner because it's mature, cheap and is used by PCs the world over. It has transformed the home networking market."

Mr Dunn was not all positive about the technology, however, adding that power drain and the short range of the connectivity can be a bit of a burden for laptop users.

According to further figures from ABI Research, Wi-Fi chipset shipments will total over 100 million for smartphones alone this year.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support. London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.