* No single mobile model is universally ‘right’
There are a number of emerging approaches to serving up blended mobile voice services that transcend the boundaries of enterprise, home and WAN. Some people firmly believe that the integrated network will be driven by mobile carriers; others, by the enterprise CPE makers, or perhaps a combination of IP PBX makers and cellular handset suppliers.
The $64,000 question is if voice mobility will end up exclusively on the mobile operator’s network or traverse a mix of enterprise Wi-Fi networks, cellular networks and Wi-Fi hot spots. The latter seems more likely in the short term.
Historically, larger enterprises have tended to prefer owning a PBX to outsourcing their voice, say, with a carrier-based Centrex service. Now, extending enterprise PBX features, business phone numbers and phone system control across the mobile WAN is desirable.
Many enterprises will want to retain control of their voice systems. And, frankly, the CPE-based enterprise solutions for mobile internetwork roaming are those that are coming to market more quickly than carrier-based alternatives. Getting entire carrier infrastructures prepped for new capabilities and services is a lengthy, complex process that takes time.
That said, GSM-based mobile Centrex is catching on quickly in Europe, according to analysts at Strategy Analytics, even where PBX bigoted enterprises have traditionally rolled their own voice. And teeny cellular base stations called “femto cells” are emerging as a boon to the carrier-driven approach, particularly in the consumer market. Last month, for example, Ericsson announced a femto cell solution that is essentially a mini-GSM/WCDMA base station with Wi-Fi and DSL connectivity capabilities. The idea is for mobile operators to install it in subscriber homes to offer competing services to fixed-line and Internet phones.
There doesn’t seem to be any technical reason for femto cells not to find an eventual home in enterprises, too. And unified mobile access (UMA) technology, which combines Wi-Fi and cellular, is already seeing some uptake internationally and by T-Mobile here in the U.S. for the consumer market.
In my mind, consumers will go for the service-based approach, but enterprises will hold onto their enterprise controls for the near term. One reason is that premises-based solutions are simply what’s available (though, admittedly, the pickings are currently slim) to solve their immediate mobility needs. Perhaps most significant, enterprises want their business phone numbers – not the carrier-imposed phone numbers – to be the ones that customers and associates know and use.
