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For real-time file sharing, "everywhere" Internet access and better communication tools for mobile workers, what's better than wireless technology? Many organizations find the answer is mobile-wireless, an emerging field of business technology.
Instead of connecting through Wi-Fi® hotspots, mobile-wireless devices use carrier services, which can extend over many miles. As a result, mobile-wireless users enjoy true roaming connectivity, unlike Wi-Fi, which relies on a user's close proximity to a wireless access point. Mobile-wireless connectivity is limited only by a carrier's service range.
As organizations learn more about mobile broadband applications, and as pricing manageability increases, expect more businesses to adopt mobile-wireless technology. The trend is already gaining momentum due to three primary factors.
The first factor: new standards are making mobile-wireless products easier for end users to obtain, easier for developers to manufacture and easier for carriers to support with mobile-wireless services. Mobile phone service providers have embraced new technologies developed to support high-speed wireless, including Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) and High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).
In turn, equipment manufacturers are responding by developing and deploying new products — notebooks, phones and cellular modems — designed to carry these technologies. Cingular and T-Mobile, for instance, take the UMTS approach to mobile access technology, applying the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard to third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology features such as support for high-speed data transmissions.
A second reason more businesses are adopting mobile-wireless is the increased availability of service from major carriers, including Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Sprint/Nextel (whose extensive broadband wireless service covered more than 185 markets and virtually all major metropolitan markets in mid-2006). The trend even has its own slogan: "broadband everywhere," a reference to the advantages mobile-wireless has over Wi-Fi solutions.
A third factor propelling the development of mobile-wireless technology is simply the growing demand for it. The 21st-century business world is driven by the need to stay connected around the clock, in more locations and with fewer hassles. Mobile-wireless provides a way to meet these ideals cost effectively.
A well-timed technology breakthrough
Mobile-wireless technology is precisely what business is calling for. The support of complex applications such as Microsoft Office, e-mail, and streaming audio and video requires higher processing power, more memory and better connectivity than conventional cell phone, Wi-Fi and mobile phone services can deliver or accommodate.
Furthermore, the increased bandwidth of mobile-wireless enhances business productivity, enabling greater collaboration between employees and allowing larger files to be downloaded. The trend also promises to reduce the variety of hardware a business requires: just consider that, prior to mobile-wireless, mobile workers required a separate cell phone, PDA, notebook, modem and cable. With embedded mobile-wireless technology, a single device — smart phone, PDA or notebook — can meet the task.
Keeping key employees in touch
Other advantages of embedded broadband wireless connectivity include giving companies the ability to better match a device with the employee needing a specific capability. An executive with the need for constant phone and e-mail access, for example, could use a Blackberry or smart phone with a wireless service. Teleworkers and traveling members of sales teams could benefit from notebooks with embedded wireless connectivity. And service workers such as electricians, whose day-to-day duties keep them away from the office, can use a handheld with mobile-wireless access to check and confirm appointments and to retrieve technical documents over the Internet while at a customer's location.
Obstacles to mobile-wireless
Barriers to wide-scale adoption of mobile broadband include a lack of awareness about mobile broadband among consumers, along with concerns businesses have related to its costs. Virtually all solutions require a subscription from a mobile service carrier — companies are concerned that, when the minutes start piling up, the resulting bills will be prohibitive. But prepaid arrangements, calling card options and carrier service packages customized to your business can help keep these expenses under control.
Mobile-wireless security
To protect equipment and company networks from the risks of mobile access, companies use virtual private network (VPN) software. In a mobile-wireless environment, on the other hand, security is delivered using fairly strong and robust encryption technology, such as 128-key Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
Boost your mobile connectivity with CDW
With so many service carriers and devices, one of the hardest aspects of mobile-wireless is simply deciding what technologies and configurations are right for your company. Your dedicated CDW account manager, backed by a team of industry-certified technology specialists, can help you develop a mobile and wireless access strategy that meets your requirements. Our CDW team can also assist in your selection of mobile technology — notebooks, smart phones and more — and security solutions to safeguard your business data.
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