Forum airs wireless worries

NEW ORLEANS - Large corporations face a number of daunting issues - from device administration to service-level consistency - as they look to increasingly mobilize their workforces, according to experts at last week's CTIA Wireless 2005 conference.

Companies are adopting wireless technologies in greater numbers as they try to stay connected to workers who are in the office less and in front of customers more.

Moreover, IT managers need to monitor, manage and secure these devices as if they were hard-wired to a desktop within the company. And they must do so while keeping the number of mobile devices and the associated expense to a minimum as wireless applications, standards and technologies continue to evolve.

"Who carries one device and has it do everything they desire?" Sprint Executive Vice President Kathy Walker asked rhetorically during a conference session on the industry migration to 3G technologies.

Walker's query reflects the hurdles and questions facing the industry as it attempts to take enterprise mobility beyond just wireless voice and e-mail, two applications that typically require at least two devices. One mobile device per user is hard enough to manage, let alone two. Add to that the tendency of mobile workers to purchase their own handsets and wireless services for business and personal use, and the management task for IT can take on increasing complexity.

"The biggest issue is policy and security," says Ellen Daley, principal analyst at Forrester Research. "Do I allow devices that somebody just buys to connect to my network? Are they compliant from an operating system and application perspective? Do I scan and quarantine them if they don't comply?"

Another consideration is whether the devices enable seamless roaming between the company and carrier network, or between different carrier networks. Many large corporations are deploying IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless LANs internally, while the wireless WAN is migrating from 2G and 2.5G standards to 3G technologies.

Ensuring a consistent user experience and level of service is a challenge.

"An often overlooked point is that enterprises are still in a three-, four- or five-carrier environment," says Michael Voellinger, vice president of wireless services for Telwares, a telecom consultancy. "You need to look at where the market and technology is going, and who you are working with. You need a consistent platform and experience."

Dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular mobile devices exist, but they are costly and have a shorter battery life because they support two radio antennas - one for Wi-Fi and the other for the particular cellular technology employed by the carrier. And if that cellular technology is 2G or 2.5G, the handset could become obsolete if users want to take full advantage of the 3G capabilities coming from their carrier.

Obsolescence is par for the course for Nova-Sol, a government contractor in Hawaii with a mobile workforce.

"The life span of a cell phone is a year anyway," says Jim Miller, director of technical resources. "But we don't have to throw 80 away and buy 80 new ones, because not everyone needs the latest and greatest."