Bill Gates might see it as the 'coming technological revolution'
but what will wireless technology mean for users? Computer Weekly
gets behind the issues and asks different sectors how it will
affect them
Mobile commerce is being touted as the next big thing for IT
departments to get to grips with.
Suppliers see the development of wireless technology standards
as important new revenue streams and aim to releaseproductsthat
promise to keep mobile workers connected to their business
data.
Last month Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, described wireless
Internet access as the coming technology revolution. "Microsoft
wants to provide the software that makes it happen," he said at the
Cellular Telecoms Industry Association Wireless show.
The show included new wireless notebooks from Dell, and a
wireless pager from Compaq and AOL. Also, Palm has joined iPlanet,
an initiative to create wireless e-business applications from the
Sun-Netscape Alliance.
Meanwhile in Europe, the Symbian alliance continues to develop
the Epoc operating system for mobile communication devices from the
likes of Ericsson, Psion and Nokia.
Despite the intense interest in mobile commerce, it remains
unclear how these technologies will benefit businesses and public
sector organisations. Computer Weekly has spoken to users and
technologists across a range of industry sectors to get a reality
check on the mobile hype.
Telecoms manager
Antony Savvas
As far as telecom managers are concerned there is a lot of
waiting to come when integrating mobile devices to the corporate
network.
David Tripp, chairman of the Telecommunications Managers'
Association (TMA) mobile telephony special interest group, said
members were eager to avoid "getting burned".
Tripp said, "Even simpler technologies like infra-red
communications between devices initially caused problems, with
strong sunlight breaking the links down for instance.
"So TMA members are perhaps waiting for clearer standards to
come into play before they get too excited about implementing Wap
[wireless application protocol] phones. They are also waiting for
the outcome of the Government's 3G [third generation] licence
auction, to see who they will be dealing withinthe future."
The products tosupport such integration are already herethough.
Sybase Mec has just launched SQL Anywhere Studio, which claims to
be the first product that allows remote/mobile workers to connect
to the entire enterprise from anywhere at anytime.
This product not only works with Palm Pilots and laptops, it
also works with Wap phones to enable employees to access sales
databases and shared diaries.
Local government
Mike Simons
Wireless technology has a lot of potential to aid local
government's highly mobile workforce. Everyone from trading
standards operators and social workers to refuse collectors could
benefit from improved communications with their base.
Richard Steel, head of IT Contract Services, Newham, is
enthusiastic about the new technology. "The borough sees mobile
computing technology as a significant way of delivering accessible
services and moving towards the '24 hour council'," said Steel.
Newham is to provide social workers with 24-hour secure access
to the department's "Carefirst" database, as well as e-mail,
scheduling, Intranet and other corporate systems, using lightweight
notebook computers and mobile phone technology.
Jos Creese, head of IT at Southampton City Council, said the
council has started to trial Wap technologies. "Real time
communications are important to local authorities," he said. "They
allow workers to access information they need while out on a
job."
Creese predicts that advanced local authorities will be
unveiling Wap projects within 12 months.
Brent Council has been pioneering the use of hand held devices
among its workforce. "It has proved very successful," said Dane
Wright, IT manager. However, he said it was not in the council's
plans to give all employees mobile phones and PDAs.
Wright warned that some councils still needed to get their
infrastructure right to take advantage of technical developments in
mobile computing.
Technology
Cliff Saran
Mobile business applications based on Wap will face problems
with scalability, according to systems integrator CSC.
The company has been prototyping a SAP-interface running from a
mobile phone. Paul Turnton, associate director for advanced
telecomm services at CSC, said the SAP interface can only be used
for simple tasks.
Another problem that CSC has encountered in its research efforts
is one of effective standardisation among Wap browsers. The problem
here, Turnton said, is that phones with different Wap browsers will
display WML pages in different ways. "Wap is a standard for
defining how information is transmitted to a mobile device. But the
way the information is displayed is not standardised."
CSC has found a WML page will look different depending on
whether it is displayed on a Palm V, a Nokia 7110 or a Sprint
NeoPoint phone. Turnton said, "The industry needs a standard way of
rendering WML information."
Europe v USA
David Bicknell
Ideas about the right applicationsfor mobile commerce vary
depending on which side of the Atlantic you are.
US users believe that Wap can be used in tracking and location
systems. Users such as Ford and DHL are considering adopting the
technology to ensure they get delivery of parts on time.
The most advanced users - and most of them are still in beta
form - are in Scandinavia. Airline SAS in Stockholm is already
testing a new service to allow customers to book, cancel and modify
SAS airline flights over mobile phones.
The service - being developed with Ericsson and Nokia - will
also allow for Wap access to SAS timetables, flight departure and
arrival times for SAS aircraft, and details of a customer's
frequent-flier miles account. A flight reservation service will be
made public before April, and users will not be charged a fee for
the service. Swissair has also said it plans to offer a similar
service.
The health service
Caroline Davis
Wap, or equivalent technologies, could have a wide range of uses
in hospitals, from keeping junior doctors up-to-date on the
condition of patients, to connecting child patients to their
schools, according to NHS IT managers.
Junior doctors at the Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust should be
equipped with Wap-enabled devices within five years, according to
head of information technology Jeremy Nettle.
"Junior doctors are very mobile and need to be able to get
information anywhere. Wap technology could be used to broadcast
important clinical information to them, for example, to get hold of
radiology or pathology results," Nettle said.
Ted Woodhouse, director of the information service division at
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said wireless technology is
only one of several options.
"We're actively looking into the delivery of patient care
information to doctors at the bedside. But we're looking at other
options too - terminals at every bedside or in every bay in the
ward," Woodhouse said.
But NHS IT managers must be careful that mobile devices using
radio frequencies do not interfere with medical equipment,
particularly in intensive care units.
David Enzor, IT services manger at Pinderfields Hospital has
been piloting WaveLan wireless technology to connect children's
wards to schools. "We've found that it hasn't affected equipment on
the wards," he said.
The retail industry
Bill Goodwin
Mobile commerce may be flavour of the month, but what can
wireless technologies really offer retailers?
Not much, said Ed Turner, futurologist with ICL's retailing
division. He is scathing about Wap, a technology that promises to
bring the Internet to mobile phones.
"You have to look at it from the point of view of the end user,"
he said. "What can Wap do for them that they can't already do. You
get all the pundits saying, you can surf from your phone but on a
screen a couple of inches big, what's the point."
But, he said, the fixed-line Internet, not Wap was a far better
medium. "I think for retailers Wap is irrelevant," he said. "I
don't think it is important to them."
Not every retailer would agree. Peter Robinson, head of
e-commerce at Marks & Spencer, said that his company is already
factoring in mobile devices into its IT strategy.
Robinson believes that ultimately, customers will want to use
their mobile phones to order simple products like books or CDs,
from a top ten list, for example.