BOSTON-The combination of an increasingly mobile work force with the growing popularity of the Internet could potentially speed up the adoption of wireless data networks and services, according to a report by the Yankee Group.
“The Internet’s advantages in terms of ubiquity, simplicity and standardization make it ideal as the data equivalent of the PSTN (public switched telephone network) for voice,” said Roberta Wiggins, director of wireless mobile communications with the Yankee Group.
The group estimates one-third of the country’s work force is mobile-meaning they spend 20 percent or more of their time away from the office-and these mobile workers need to access company data and stay in contact with co-workers. The Yankee Group’s report, “The Impact of the Internet on Mobile Computing and Wireless Data,” contends that 87 percent of the top 100 U.S. companies are developing intranet applications. The report also predicts that corporations increasingly will store mission-critical information on intranets. This pervasiveness will spark efforts to allow remote workers access to such networks.
The group estimates that 33 percent of large U.S. companies will provide mobile workers with wireless intranet access by 2000.
However, only 20 percent claimed to provide remote Internet/intranet access using wireless technology today, the report said, citing cost and security concerns as obstacles. As such, several concerns must be met before the report’s prediction can come about.
“The Internet is both a blessing and a curse for wireless,” read a summary of the report. “The World Wide Web is creating an expectation, in terms of delivery, that cannot be met by wireless data networking. At the same time, the attributes of the Internet offer the means to drastically reduce the cost and complexity of wireless data integration. By cascading the two technologies, it may be possible to break the logjam that has stifled wireless mobile data in the form of underutilized networks, low revenue and lack of applications.”
