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Navigate the Wireless World
Don't get lost in the maze. Follow these nine tips to determine the best wireless solution for your organization.
by Patricia Cardoza

November 2002 Issue

A generation ago, personal computers burst on to the business scene. Suddenly, a computer wasn't just a huge monstrosity that took up an entire room in some think tank on a hill. Computers were real, obtainable, and here to stay; and within five years, they changed the way we live and work dramatically. This sort of technology explosion has repeated itself many times over the past twenty years with the Internet, cell phones, PDAs, and now wireless. Workers are no longer tethered to their desktops, and your partners' and customers' expectations to have data anytime, anywhere necessitates some significant adjustments to most current business plans. Corporations must look at their business models and decide where wireless fits. As an IT decision maker, it's your job to set the technology policy in your organization. You'll need to decide the when, how, and what of wireless implementation and integration. It's important to understand where the wireless industry stands today as you ask nine crucial questions to determine the best way to launch a wireless solution. You should also explore the options .NET offers for implementing or expanding this solution.

Every 1.3 seconds in the United States, a new subscriber signs up for a wireless communications service—that's around 67,000 new wireless subscribers each day. By the end of 2000, there were more than 100 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. This rapid growth is driven by two factors. First, businesses are starting to pay for their employees' wireless services so they can access e-mail and important business information. Mobile devices have become critical to doing business and are no longer considered an option or a luxury. Second, wireless transmission rates are increasing. You've probably heard about wireless in terms of generations such as 2G and 3G. These "generations" correspond to the speed and quality of data and voice transmissions. The first generation was analog voice (the earliest cell phones); the second generation is digital (more efficient cell phones with voice and data at rates of 9.6 Kbps to 14.4 Kbps). Carriers are currently working on what is known as 2.5G, transmission rates of up to 114 Kbps. Most major wireless carriers say they're committed to building networks that can transfer data at average speeds between 40 Kbps and 80 Kbps by the end of this year. Some wireless carriers are even advertising bursts up to 144 Kbps.

However, just because the networks are capable of moving data at those rates doesn't mean users will always experience them (just as having "nationwide coverage" from your cellular carrier doesn't mean you'll always be able to make a connection). 3G is the future, and it will offer data transmission rates of up to 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps and have advanced roaming and always-on capabilities. However, the faster speeds don't necessarily change the basic uses for wireless devices. With 2.5G, users won't be watching The Lord of the Rings on a PDA, or downloading an entire year's worth of e-mail in one session, but checking e-mail and even opening attachments will become more feasible. It might even be possible to exchange product images and detailed spec documents or send and receive large spreadsheets complete with graphics and formulas.

Choices for carriers are expanding as well. According to the Telecommunications Industry Association, 86 percent of Americans can choose between three or more wireless carriers, and 60 percent of Americans have a choice between six or more. If your corporation is located in a major metropolitan area, your options for wireless are probably fairly broad. Worldwide, market researchers say there are some 300 million wireless handsets now in use. In five years, no fewer than 1.25 billion will be occupying pockets and briefcases on every continent. Gartner Group, an IT research firm, believes that by 2005, mobile phones and handheld computers will outnumber notebooks and desktop machines by at least two to one. And by 2010, SRI Consulting's Business Intelligence Center predicts 3.5 billion people will have access to mobile phones. According to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, mobility-focused applications and consumer-based data services and devices will drive the North American wireless data market to grow from 7.3 million subscribers in 2000 to 37.5 million subscribers in 2005.