"We think that technology will really take off, giving each nurse one phone and one number and using the same wireless network that data is already on," said Dan Allee, technical specialist at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Ind.

Allee said he and consultants believe the switching and wireless access points added last year from Extreme Networks Inc. can preserve security and privacy for voice conversations and also prove to be reliable. About 50 nurses of a total hospital staff of 800 will use the voice-over-Wi-Fi phones, which are expected to be rolled out by the end of the year, Allee said.

The hospital, with 106 beds and five branch facilities, is currently evaluating phones from three equipment makers: Cisco Systems Inc.; Vocera Communications Inc. in Cupertino, Calif.; and SpectraLink Corp. in Boulder, Colo.

In general, hospitals have to take care when installing voice-over-Wi-Fi systems to make sure that private conversations can't be monitored and that the supporting hardware can support multiple users, said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates in Northboro, Mass.

Allee said Hancock installed more than 30 of Extreme's Altitude 350-2 access points (AP) last year to address the security and scalability concerns Gold cited. "We're very impressed with the throughput of the APs as well as the coverage," he said.