The Zeman Blog

Where Have I Been?

2007-05-09T20:35:00Z

Too freaking busy, that's for sure. I promise I will update the blog mroe regularly from now on, especially since I am a professional blogger. Mea culpa, mea culpa!

PTT By the Minute?!?

2007-01-31T18:49:00Z

Correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn't the major premise of push-to-talk technology (PTT) that it would help save people (enterprises) money by allowing them to avoid using their monthly minute allotment because they were using the walkie-talkie instead? If so, AT&T's new plan to allow customers to use PTT on a per-minute basis negates the entire appeal.

Sorry, but if I have to pay by the minute to use the PTT service on my BlackBerry, it just ain't gonna happen. Granted, AT&T's proposed fee of $0.15 per minute is far lower than typical minute overage fees, which fall in the $0.45 to $0.55 range, but still. It just seems counterintuitive to me. Why use a walkie-talkie if you're going to be charged by the minute?

I think this entire idea is a tactic to increase adoption of PTT usage on the Cingular / AT&T network (I just can't call it AT&T yet).

The technology behind Cingular's PTT service differs from Sprint Nextel's. Where Sprint Nextel leverages the old iDEN network, Cingular usees a third party software solution from companies like Kodiak. Sprint Nextel's was far superior for a long time, with much lower latency. The delay in coversations in the initial Cingular (and Verizon Wireless, for that matter) PTT services was noticeable and hampered adoption. They and their partners have corrected those issues for the most part and the services are not on par with that offered by Sprint Nextel, at least in terms of raw performance.

I think the real problem here is image and business case related. There is a very field force, blue collar image associated with those chunky Sprint Nextel iDEN phones and the guys who use them. The reason they were so popular among the field force set is because guys on a construction site need to contact one another all the time. Using minutes to make 100 phone calls a day to the guy up on the scaffolding was not cost effective. So their employers subscribed to the PTT service and the workers were then able to make as many "calls" to their coworkers without eating into their minute plans.

People who are sophisticated enough to use a BlackBerry or other advanced feature phone probably have the budget to run up their minutes.

Hear Me Now, Cingular! I reprogrammed my BlackBerry so the dedicated PTT button accesses another function on the phone. I betcha many others did as well. Sorry, I'll stick to my minutes.

And Away We SVGo!

2007-01-30T18:48:00Z

Yesterday in NYC the Mobile Monday organization hosted a half-day seminar on scalable vector graphics (SVG). According to the fine collection of speakers the little group huddled at the Samsung Experience had the pleasure of listening to, this tiny little computer language is promising to revolutionize the mobile web experience. Some day.

The take-away message for the afternoon was: SVG is grrrrrrate!

Let's be fair. As cool as it is, browsing the web on a mobile handset can be downright infuriating. Yes, smartphones have decent processors, and the wireless operators have spent untold billions of doneros lighting up high-speed data networks, but the mobile Internet experience is still in its infancy--and danged aggravating at times. HSDPA and EV-DO aside, the reality is, if you navigate to a graphics-heavy page, you're basically screwed.

Though the speakers were slightly self-congratulatory at times (i.e., not humble at all) about their tiny little computer language, it does look like SVG will have the power to make web browsing on mobile devices somewhat easier by, ahem, scaling the graphical elements on each web page to a more usable size. The chief benefit is the size of the code. It's teeny tiny. It'll fit in the darndest of places, on silicon large and small, in devices old and new.

One company, Opera, uses the code as part of its mini browser. Between both of Opera's browsers, they've seen 80 million copies downloaded onto desktops, laptops, smartphones, GameBoy's and more. Other companies like Ikiko and Vodafone have already built the SVG engine into their soon-to-be-released products. There are definitely companies already banking their existence on the success of SVG. Too bad no one knows about it, it's hardly deployed, and barely supported.

Our friends in Redmond don't think SVG is vital yet, because IE7 can't handle it. Even the Mozilla team aren't on board yet, because Firefox can't dig it, either.

Lack of support aside, the future is somewhat bullish for SVG. Anything that will help speed up mobile web browsing and make it less painful is a good thing in my eyes.

Hello, Vista. Good-bye Tablet OS?

2007-01-30T18:47:00Z

In case you didn't know, Microsoft's Vista operating system launches today. Though there are 80 gazillion different versions of Vista, I didn't see any of them labeled "Tablet OS". What gives, Ballmer?

In scrolling the headlines today, I noticed a small blurb from HP about a new TouchScreen PC they are working on. You can read about it here. As I was perusing the article, I thought to myself, "Hmm, is there a Tablet version of Vista?" So off in search of Vista Tablet I went...

My first stop was Motion Computing, one of the premier purveyors of Tablet PCs. According to the site, the LE1600 and LS800 still come with Windows XP. No mention of Vista is made on their web site. Next up was Gateway. They are still selling what they call "convertible" notebooks, but with Vista installed. Hmm. Interesting. It didn't say anything about Vista Tablet Edition. It just said Vista. Panasonic still sells its ToughBook-19 with XP Tablet Edition, but "recommends" Vista for businesses. No word on its site whether or not the tablet functionality will be affected by the new OS. Dell seems to be a distribution channel for Motion Computing to sell its Tablets, with none with the Dell brand on them. (Little wonder, this, since the Motion folks are a bunch of ex-Dellies.)

Then I decided it was time to visit the Micro-softies site. I performed a search for "Vista Tablet." I could not find the two words paired together anywhere. I found some community forum articles that said that tablet PCs will work with Vista, that Vista natively supports Tablet functionality. Um, okay. When you go to the page that shows off all the editions of Vista, there's not a word of Tablet support. I couldn't find any thing that was actually written by Microsoft that said, "Yes, moron, you can install Vista on your crummy Tablet PC and it will continue to work in much the same way."

My conclusion is that there is no specific Vista Tablet Edition, but Vista does appear to be a safe upgrade for Tablet users (as long as your hardware meets the required specs).

I'd love to hear from users in the field who actually attempt to install Vista on their Tablets. Feel free to email me and let me know how it worked out.

Major Vista Facts? Please!

2007-01-29T18:46:00Z

There's an article floating around the Internet today called "Facts About Windows Vista." In it, you'll find 4 genuine pieces of information (which are not all that exciting, by the way) about the world's most expensive operating system, following by some inane statistics on how many dopes will use it.

C'mon, Reuters. You call this news? The entirety of their article tells us this: new look, easier search, gadget sidebar, and better security. Oh, and a million this, and a million that for 2007, blah, blah, blah.

Um. Thanks. Looks like you succeeded in reading the packaging. Good for you.

For real information on Vista, you're better off reading some real reviews like this one, or this one. Or better yet, get thee to a PC store tomorrow and give it a test drive yourself.

For enterprises looking to deploy Vista, the amount of information you need to arm yourself with is vast. Maybe Window's should have called it Vasta. What else describes something with 50 million lines of code? (Those poor coders' eyes. They must all be bloodshot and blind at this point.)

My favorite "fact" from the article states that only 15% of today's computers have the necessary hardware to upgrade to Vista. In other words, Microsoft (and PC manufacturers, to be sure) don't actually want you to upgrade. They'd all rather you just go out and buy a new computer and continue to line their pockets.

The truth is, they probably don't want to deal with all the support calls from dopes who can't read the fine print, get halfway through an install, and realize they don't have the right graphics cards, enough RAM or, heck, enough hard drive space left. (Vista requires 15 GB of hard drive space.)

Sounds like a killer business model to me.

Is Palm Losing Its Grip on Business Customers?

2007-01-29T18:45:00Z

With tight integration to back-end systems becoming more and more necessary, is Palm OS on the verge of extinction? As nifty as the Palm OS is to use, it seems fewer and fewer businesses take it seriously, opting instead for Microsoft-based platforms.

There was a time when I was addicted to my Treo 650. It was my first qwerty keyboard device, but more than that, it was my first smartphone. I loaded it chock full of contacts, synced it with my calendar, stuck some tunes and applications on there and used it to do some basic housekeeping for tasks, meetings and such. I enjoyed using the OS, the touchscreen, how easy it was to perform functions and the low learning curve. Everything just felt natural. But then I needed to sync my email and hook into my business, and suddenly there were better options.

I doubt I am the first Palm user to come across certain shortcomings in the OS. Any business that needs to run critical enterprise applications on mobile devices generally turns to other platforms (Symbian, Windows Mobile, RIM OS).

A major signal to the impending death of Palm OS is the fact that Palm hasn't revised the platform significantly in years. Sure, they updated some features and functions last spring with the release of the 700p device, but the underlying code didn't change all that much. Palm went so far as to develop the next generation of the OS about two years ago, but they have yet to release a single device running it. That says something right there. About 9 months after that OS was developed, Palm announced that it would be offering the Treo with Microsoft Windows Mobile. Is Palm selling a boat-load of those devices? You bet. I've asked Palm several times the ratio of Palm versus Microsoft devices sold and the only answer I've received is, "They're in line with projections."

Evasions aside, Palm has not been excited about their own OS in some time. If they were truly working on a better platform to support business applications, they'd be hyping it up. It doesn't help that the parent company the owns the Palm OS, ACCESS, is dropping the Palm OS name from all its products and calling it Garnet OS instead.

As innovative as Palm was 3 years ago, it seems to be treading water lately. Palm will tell us that they have 50 gazillion developers more than any other smartphone platform, but I don't see those developers churning out apps that are used by Fortune 500 companies to help run their businesses.

If Palm wants its own platform to finish the race for business customers and real back-end integration, it needs to whip up another version of the lagging OS.

"Cough! Cough!" Yes, that was your Smartphone Wheezing at You

2007-01-28T18:45:00Z

Believe it or not, the first mobile viruses began appearing back in mid-June 2004. The Cabir worm and Mosquito Trojan both targeted smartphones that run the Symbian Series 60 operating system, which is the most widely used smartphone platform across the world. Others targeting Windows Mobile appeared later. Should the enterprise be concerned? Hell, yeah!

With wireless devices becoming more sophisticated all the time (I found an app that let's my BlackBerry manage my multiple personality disorder), malicious jerks have decided to have even more fun at our expense (apparently destroying our hard drives, sending billions of spam messages from our IP addresses or accessing our bank accounts just isn't enough for them).

While your average run-of-the-mill Java or BREW phone (read: crappy feature phone) is probably safe for the time being, phones that run Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and RIM OS are much more at risk and it's surprising to see how quickly and in how many ways naughty code writers have found to use abuse them. With more and more sensitive corporate data stored on these devices, mobile viruses are a rising threat that can't be ignored by the enterprise.

Unfortunately for IT departments, this means being the bad guy for a while, as there are some simple ways to protect enterprise data from this threat.

1. Don't let employees back-door the devices in. If they buy a smartphone over the weekend and want you to activate enterprise email, access, whatever, come Monday morning, tell them tough luck. I don't care if it's the CEO. Don't forget that employees are sneaky, and don't like hearing no for an answer. You may have to buy software that sniffs out unauthorized devices (the CEO's Treo, that S.O.B.!) that are accessing the network and pro-actively find them and terminate their access. (Don't worry, the CEO should thank you for protecting his network.)

2. Create strict policies for mobile equipment. Decide what can be accessed and what can't. Force employees to use security features, passwords, on-device encryption and so on. Make them pick hard passwords. Forbid employees from downloading anything not directly related to work, like games or wallpapers of Miss January.

3. Install antivirus software on the devices. Believe it or not, there is already an industry swelling here. Talk to your wireless carrier about the best options.

4. Control the phones' Bluetooth. Even though it's fun to say "Bluejacking" and "Bluesnarfing", Bluetooth has become an easy entry point for mobile viruses. Cabir took advantage of Bluetooth to sneak inside handsets and place calls to expensive 1-900 numbers, running up the bills.

5. Educate employees. Most people haven't heard of mobile viruses, and may not really believe in them. With threats to security increasing all the time, you should hold regular meetings or provide regular updates to inform employees about the risks they and their devices face every day.

If employees come to hate the IT managers for being strict policy enforcers, too bad. They aren't at work to be liked, they are there to keep the network and its data protected.

HP, Alas, Why Did Ye Stray?

2007-01-27T18:44:00Z

That the weight of the spying scandal continues to cause small implosions and aftershocks over at HP isn't terribly surprising. What does surprise me is the lack of a battle cry from other journalists and the complete silence from HP's press team.

As a journalist covering the mobile computing industry, I have dealt directly with HP for years. I am on a first name basis with good handful of HP's PR representatives. Over the years I've written reports on their handhelds, laptops and other equipment. Everyone at the organization I've had contact with was professional and performed their jobs well.

Then senior management and the board (not some rogue middle manager) were caught spying on one another and several journalists.

To be honest, when the scandal hit the news last summer, I was angry. I won't quibble with HP's right to conduct an internal investigation to see where possible leaks might be coming from, but they certainly didn't have the right to spy on reporters and pry into their personal emails and phone records to see if they were receiving secret information from HP. That the chairman was forced to step down and other leaders at the company were impacted didn't do enough to quell the outrage I felt.

As angry as I was, I kept my feelings mostly to myself. I never brought it up with anyone professionally, and especially not to HP, and I never wrote about it anywhere, even though I felt it deserved a lot of attention. But a funny thing happened. HP went dark. No more phone calls, no more pitches, no more meeting requests, no more emails. Nothing. This eerie silence enveloped the HP press team. I have to wonder what plan was hatched from the corporate communications team, if one was hatched at all. It appeared to be subject non grata.

Even weirder than HP's silence was the silence of the media. Not a single reporter, writer or editor brought it up in conversation. I just don't get it. Essential, constitutional rights protecting individuals and the press were violated here. No one seemed to care. Well, I do.

Mr. Alexander Wolfe posits that corporate spying is far more widespread than we probably suspect. I am sure it is. I knew a fellow who was a corporate spy for one of the two national home improvement stores. The shenanigans he pulled to get proprietary information from the other were outrageous, and probably illegal. He was never caught. How many instances of corporate spying, or spying on journalists, go unnoticed? Like Wolfe says, "let's not be naive."

Mobile Phones Pass Major Sales Landmark and Shoot for the Cosmos

2007-01-26T18:44:00Z

If Carl Sagan were still alive, all the wireless associations around the world could have tapped him for his famous, though-never-actually-uttered, catch phrase.

One out of every 6 people on the planet bought a cell phone last year. (Before reading this next part, think Dr. Evil, pinky on cheek). That's one. B-i-l-l-i-o-n. Handsets sold. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-haaaa. I guess that made it a very good year for the likes of Nokia and others.

It may have taken 23 long years, but the wireless industry calculates that it sold just over one billion mobile phones in 2006. Reaching that landmark had been predicted as early as Spring 2006, but a slowdown in the market in 2Q06 caused analysts to revise that number downward. The good news is, the latter half of the year, and the fourth quarter in particular, showed a surge in sales, which pushed the number over that whopping figure of one billion. Too bad at this rate they'll never match McDonald's "billions and billions" of hamburgers sold, but we should all be okay with that.

If Carl Sagan were still alive, all the wireless associations around the world could have tapped him for his famous, though-never-actually-uttered, catch phrase. He would have been a marketing genius for them, no doubt. He and Letterman could have said it together: "Billions and billions."

It came as no surprise to see Nokia with the number one spot in terms of world market share, with a huge lead at 35.2%. Motorola made slight gains, probably boosted by sales of the Q, from 20.8 to 21.9%. Samsung slipped a little bit further down toward the rest of the pack from 11.9 to 10.7%. The rest of the pack--Sony Ericsson and LG--are way behind the leaders and have some serious ground to make up.

A good part of the sales surge in the fourth quarter came from Nokia, which skipped right over the 100 million mark to rake in 106 double large. A lot of the increase in Nokia's sales came from emerging markets. The one negative here is that prices on cell phones dipped a bit, which ate into profit figures a bit. But I have to say, if those wacky Finns can sell 106 million handsets in a quarter and over 300 million in a year, they can probably stand to have the prices go down a few bucks per device.

I bet the Nokia party at 3GSM in Barcelona this year will be even more insane than in previous years. Do I hear the Leningrad Cowboys warming up already?

Will 2007 Finally Be the Year of Mobility?

2007-01-26T18:43:00Z

IDC seems to think so. Sure, there are some hurdles that remain to be cleared, but a reasonable amount of interoperability already exists. Mobile devices themselves are finally powerful enough to handle just about anything business app we can throw at them. The real question is, when will enterprises realize this and adopt the technology that's going boost their business into the next realm?

In speaking with a major mobile enterprise hardware vendor about a year ago, I heard an amazing statistic. He told me that 95 percent of field forces were still using pencil and paper to get their work done. That's ninety-five, not nine point five. That means the bulk of guys who get into a truck each morning, drive to a job site, perform some work and go home, where they complete some paperwork before calling it a day, are probably wasting untold amounts of time and money for their employers.

Granted, that was a year ago. The number is probably in the 85 to 90 percent range now, given the continuing explosions of mobile deployments, but it's still way too high a figure. Pencil and paper just doesn't cut it. You cant' compete with it.

IDC's VP of mobile devices and communications, Scott Ellison, feels that this is the year for enterprises to take advantage of the interoperability of devices and networks. He thinks Shangri La is finally on the horizon. I think it's already here, and has been for years.

There's no excuse for enterprises not to adopt. Okay, okay, yeah, the prices are sometimes daunting, but any reasonable ROI calculations can help find the solution that's best for even the smallest organization. Sometimes simple cell phones with timesheet programs do the trick. For the busier mid-sized enterprise that rolls 100 trucks a day, scheduling and dispatching software that relies on GPS data is critical for long-term success. For sales organizations spread across the country, smartphones equipped with customer relationship management and sales force automation programs can help them follow up with leads and close more sales.

All this technology is enabled by the high-speed wireless networks being run by the major US carriers. You can access just about any bit of enterprise information that you might need or want to. Isn't it time you got started.

Hey, Are You Reading this Blog While You're At Work?

2007-01-25T18:43:00Z

A new study shows that the majority of office workers use their company's technology for personal reasons, including checking personal email and taking personal calls on their office telephone, despite express policies forbidding it. Tsk, tsk!

Forget to pay your bills before leaving the house this morning? No worries, you can just log on to your bank's web site and pay them when you get to the office. Forget to send a note to your child's teacher before they dashed out the door? Fret not. Just whip out your company cell phone and give the teach a call. No big deal, right? Well, actually, yes.

Even though survey respondents were informed about their company's electronic communications policies, many (69%) checked the personal email and made personal calls while at work. Furthermore, 55% sent personal emails from their work email account. Young workers (aged 18-34) were the worst offenders (beware, MySpace, my young friends!), though their older colleagues were nearly as guilty of infringing upon the rules.

The "everyone does it" excuse may seem plausible here, but personal Internet use is a major problem for enterprises.

First comes the productivity factor. If you're sending personal emails, you're not working. If you're on the phone with your mother (cut the cord, already!), you're not working. While 5 minutes here and there may not seem like much cause for concern, small businesses feel the pinch from decreased productivity sooner than you might think. I had a job about 5 years ago, and the woman sitting next to me spent at least 4 hours a day (I am NOT kidding) on the phone with her friends. Needless to say, I wasn't too surprised when the magazine she was supposed to be selling ads for suddenly shut down.

Then there's security. You may have ironclad firewalls, but if your employees go and install an IM client and use it to communicate with outsiders, they open the whole system to attack. The risks are even greater when mobile technology is being used as the conduit for personal use.

As much as employers like to be understanding about personal issues (we all have them from time to time), they have to answer to the greater organization, which has to answer to stockholders (if public) or the owners (if private). Employees have to remember that they can easily jeopardize their jobs by using company technology for personal reasons, even if it seems innocuous.

Cause We're All Phonies

2007-01-24T18:42:00Z

Sprint has our number. They know we use our mobile phones as excuses to get out of awkward social situations (bad dates, family funerals, meetings), and are launching a hysterical new service to help us all be better liars.

C'mon, admit it. You know you've had a friend call you in the middle of a date with the express purpose of using the call as an excuse to cut the date short if it wasn't going well. Then there's the fake number givers. You were at a bar, and some guy/gal was chatting you up and asked for your number at the end of the evening. Rather than say no, you gave them a bogus number, or better yet, gave them a number to a rejection service (so cruel, and yet so funny at the same time!).

Whatever the reasons may be, cell phones have become the ultimate out. Can't stand the way your date picks his nose while chewing with his mouth open? Fake a family death and dump his ass! Can't stand your family's neurosis around the holidays? Fake a work emergency and leave early! Didn't prepare for your budget meeting? Fake a personal crisis and get the heck out of dodge!

Walking around Manhattan, I've heard people say the strangest things on the phone. For instance, I was emerging from the subway downtown one evening and heard a guy walking down the street say, "No honey, I'm still at work. We're in the conference room, that's why you can't reach me on my office line." Liar! Hopefully his caller didn't notice the blaring taxi horns or traffic noise.

Then there's the

Just in case you're terrible at lying (and let's face it, some people truly are), Sprint is offering a new service to help us out when we're down. Called Mobile Faker, Sprint customers can now subscribe to a service that fakes incoming phone calls with voice prompts to fake a realistic conversation, fake numbers that send would-be suitors to a rejection line, hip conversation starters for those who can't seem to stop stammering when their ideal mate walks up to them in a bar, fake wallpapers of significant others, kids and pets and pick-up and rejection lines so you can sound cool in front of your friends.

Now, is this service entirely practical for business users? Probably not. Especially if you are someone who is highly visible in your company or industry, or if you're an actual decent person (if there are any of you left). Still, it just might come in handy when you're on the road at a trade show and some husky voiced hotel bar patron just won't take no for an answer.

GPS = Gosh, People are Stupid!

2007-01-23T18:41:00Z

Is anyone else as astounded as I am with the outright idiocy of crooks, thugs and thieves? Some Babylon, NY, scofflaws found out the hard way that stealing cell phones often leads the police right to your front door.

Here's the scene: Some deserted town truck yard on Long Island. Here's the loot: GPS-enabled cell phones used to track the location of town property. Here's the crime: Break into the trucks, snatch the phones (which are probably chunky Nextel iDEN phones, and who really wants to steal those?), and run!

Dad-gum, that's a good time right thar!

Those numbskulls must have thought they were pretty slick. After all, it's not anyone who can pull off a smash-and-grab job with such finesse. Or so they thought. Apparently, they've never watched Law & Order, CSI, or any other show or movie that might depict modern technology.

Thanks to this pesky technology that seems to be making in-roads to every device under the sun called Global Positioning System, people or companies can put such devices in their asset's or employees' hands and know where those assets and people are at all time. Nifty, huh?

Cunning enterprises might even use this technology to make sure their employees are taking the shortest route between two job sites, or not using the truck for personal business during lunch time, or not stopping off at strip joints on the way home with their company logo blazing from said establishment's parking lot.

GPS is also used to, like, recover stolen goods, yo. And so it was that once the phones were reported stolen, the town fired up the GPS system and pinpointed the phones--and the idiots, er, thieves--on the map.

Suffolk County Police wasted no time following the turn-by-turn directions right to the homes of the perpetrators, where they arrested three people in connection with the crime.

GPS - 1: Dummies - 0!

Mobile Messaging Madness

2007-01-23T02:24:00Z

A new report from Aberdeen says the best companies use varied means of mobile messaging to stay in touch with their employees and their customers. Do you?

I am a voracious sender of text messages. I think the most I ever sent and received in one month was a hair over 1200. Yes, 1200 text messages. That's 40 per day. I find that my SMS rate goes up dramatically during trade shows, when I need to coordinate meeting times and locations and social plans with many more people in a short time than I normally do. And ever since I've become a BlackBerry user, I just see one in-box and often use emails interchangeably with SMS and PIN messages when I know my recipient has a BlackBerry as well. The funny thing is, none of this was ever sanctioned by my employers.

It should have been.

Informal and nettlesome it may be, but mobile messaging is not just for teenagers any more. When phone calls just aren't going to work, SMS's can. When it's vitally important to send a picture of a burst water line to some engineers, an MMS (picture message for you non geeks) can get the point across faster than using a digital camera and laptop. While records of these types of messages are often kept by the cellular carrier, they are probably not added to your company's filing of all communications, as financial firms are require do to by law.

What about the company that uses instant messaging (IM) in the office? While enterprise-level IM programs exist, I find most people still use Yahoo Instant Messenger or AIM, which are not nearly as secure. Applications also allow you to load your IM client on your phone, so you have "presence" even when out of the office and can use IM like SMS.

The top-performing organizations in the world know this, and they're on it. They are exploring all the options of being able to send the right message at the right time--and to keep track of what those messages are. These top IT organizations have seen the light at the end of the tunnel, where there's only one in-box for all messages to flood to.

For all you SMBs floating around out there, it's time to get on the train and make sure your employees aren't misusing their IM, MMS and SMS capabilities to send the wrong messages to the wrong people at the wrong time.

802.11nevermind

2007-01-22T18:40:00Z

The eye-triple-e recently took another baby step toward ratifying the 802.11n standard, which is said to be finalized by this summer. I say, "So what?"

C'mon, people. Do we have to think that hard about it?

DSL broadband provides speeds between 384kbps and 1.5Mbps. Cable broadband speeds rank at 784kbps to 10 Mbps. T1 lines rate at 1.544Mbps. T3 lines pull down up to 45Mbps. Only Fiber goes beyond that, with Verizon offering consumers a 30Mbps package, and enterprise customers up to 100Mpbs.

Any way you slice, the speed at which you can browse the Internet wirelessly is strapped down by the speed of your hardwired broadband connection. And if you can't tell from the figures above, most people are only capable at browsing in the 1.5 - 5Mbps range. Even 802.11b, which has speeds up to 11Mbps, is sufficient for that. 802.11g, which blasts bits up to 54Mbps is great, but there's no way for anyone to notice the difference in their surfing speeds.

802.11n, the latest in the alphabet soup of standards to come from the IEEE, will be able to snag files from the Internet and download them at (real-world) speeds of up to 100Mbps. Great. That's freaking cool. Too bad my broadband connection is only 5Mbps.

The only foreseeable benefit of 802.11n is the capacity it can handle. Because of its multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) antenna arrays, it will be able to better manage more computers connecting to it and because of the added antennas and receivers, will have better range. This efficiency is great, but it won't be any faster for the end user.

Seamless Global Roaming? Don't Make Me Laugh

2007-01-22T02:23:00Z

We hate to burst your bubble, but there's just no way wireless enterprise users will be able to roam the entire globe without hitting a few snags here and there. Yet.

It's not to say that there aren't solutions to the issue of global roaming. It's definitely doable. The problem, however, doesn't really lie with the technology. Honestly, the technology is almost there. The problem lies with the network owners and operators, and, to an extent, governments. This is why organizations like the Mobile Enterprise Alliance have formed programs like the "<a href="http://www.mobileenterprise.org/roam.php">Global Roaming & Authentication Initiative</a>" to help spur change. The MEA has sent an agenda with four goals that will standardize security and network technologies so that they all work together more seamlessly by creating standards. This is a noble goal.

Even though it should be getting easier, though, connecting to the Internet or your Intranet wirelessly remains to be a serious pain in the tuckus, especially if you are on the road. True, embedded Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G data cards and soon WiMAX increase the number of options, but they often only serve to aggravate and annoy and add to expense accounts.

Any enterprise worth doing business with will have some modicum of security software installed on their employees' equipment. As necessary as it is, security software can hamper and even prevent connecting to certain networks if they are deemed unsafe, especially wireless networks. What does this mean for the enterprise worker traveling on business to less-than-civilized regions of the globe where technology is often patchworked together? Tough luck.

Another component is IT policy administration. Similar to security software, policy management makes sure users are connecting and behaving as the corporation wants them to. Can't find free Wi-Fi, but the hotel's $20 a day connection is starting you in the face? Some corporations won't have it. This can be roadblock number two.

Then there's the networks. While the 3G data networks are capable of handing off data calls, from one cell to the next Wi-Fi networks are not so adept at it. Then there's things like FMC, where a call is originated on a 3G network, but once the 802.11 radio and security software senses a trusted Wi-Fi network, it switches the from the 3G network to the Wi-Fi network. With voice calls, these hand-offs are absolutely possible, though not commonplace just yet. Data sessions can be handled the same way, but they, too are not commonplace.

While these technology issues may seem to be a problem, they really aren't. They'll be solved soon enough. The real issue remains the interoperability across countries and regions.

Enterprise data users are going to have to simply wait for things like the MEA standards to arrive (which could be 4-7 years) and continue to live in purgatory--where the Holy Grail of connecting seamlessly to ubiquitous networks with world over is within reach--until then.

Casting Pearls before the Swine

2007-01-21T02:22:00Z

Do people really care what color their cell phone is? Blinged out teeny-bopper Paris Hilton models aside, did we really need the new, <em>white</em> Pearl, from RIM?

Apparently, we did. Why the Pearl was charcoal-colored and not white to begin with, I couldn't say, but now we have both to choose from, at least for T-Mobile subscribers. (I should disclose up front that I am a Pearl user and admitted BlackBerry addict. Have they created the Betty Ford for techies yet?)

I think the elegance of the original pearl was that the track ball lit up a nice, pearly white, symbolizing the gracefullness of the device and its higher class yearnings over the brick-y BlackBerrys of the past. It's simply a sophisticated phone for the BlackBerry use who doesn't like holding calculator-sized slabs of plastic to their heads. Its cache is just there. True, the new white Pearl does that, too, but it doesn't contrast well against the rest of the phone.

The thing that bugs me about white cell phones is that they just don't look serious. I've seen scads of them at trade shows, and when I see white, I automatically think "toy". They just aren't business-y. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't "business" BlackBerry's stock in trade?

Maybe the white pearl is for bid-ness, yo.

Yeah, that's it. We're supposed to buy into the whole notion that cell phones are to be personalized, diamond encrusted, covered with stickers, and somehow distinctly *ours*. Lindsay and Paris look out, here comes the white pearl, and it will be way sexier than whatever crappy 3 karat accessory you're carrying around.

The white pearl will definitely stand out in a dark nightclub, especially one with black lights. How did I not see it, it's the perfect play by RIM. They're geniuses! They had it figured out all along. Us business folks who need to project some sort of cool image when we go out partying at night will pull out out white Pearls and have them glow with that distinctive un-earthly color when they are bathed in black light. It'll make us look so hip to have a radioactive phone in our hands, we'll be the talk of the nightclub.

Either that or the laughing stock. You pick.

Free Wireless, A Good Idea for the Enterprise?

2007-01-20T02:21:00Z

Yet another municipality is announcing free Wi-Fi wireless access for its denizens. Is 802.11 becoming commoditized?

Portland, Ore., is the latest city in the U.S. to begin offering its businesses, residents and visitors free access to a muni-Wi-Fi network and the Internet. With the deployment under way since last month, Portland is proclaiming that 3,000 residents and businesses have already signed up and is calling the system a success before it is anywhere near complete.

The value for residents is clear. The value for the town is sort of clear, even if it makes a mess of their budget. The value for businesses, however, starts to get murky.

Consider this. What do you do if you're a Portland area business and you've already spent thousands of dollars putting up your own 802.11 network? You invest in the hardware, the management software, and you pay engineers to map out and plan the best coverage to eliminate any RF interference. Then, the new, municipal network comes online and interferes with yours, causing mayhem. Do you have your partner come back out, re-align everything and then send the bill to the town? And what about security? If you spend the money to make your system secure (as any responsible corporation should), what do you do about employees who what to stroll downtown on their lunch break with their laptops and tap into the unsecured, free muni system and leave their machine and potentially your network open to attack?

This is why enterprises have to be ultra vigilant about their employees' use of any wireless system, free or not, good for the community or not. Speaking from experience, I've been on trade show floors where dozens of Wi-Fi networks are crackling away, and it's surprising how few of them are secured. Same goes for walking around town. From my office in Manhattan, I could see usually about 10 Wi-Fi networks, some of them coming form the apartment building across the street and others from several area businesses, and none of them were secured.

Enterprises have to be more careful than that.

With wireless access sprouting up all over, the problem is that it is becoming an expected service, like electricity or water. People expect it to be there like their utilities, and they expect to be able to use it for free. The free model, while completely cool, is more of a threat than you might think.

Cellular Component of Telecom Costs becoming Killer

2007-01-19T02:20:00Z

A NJ-based research firm is saying that more companies are spending the bulk of the telecom services dollar on cellular services. Um, Duh!

I applaud the research efforts of Insight Research. They did an excellent job writing up a nifty little report detailing how enterprises spend money on telecom services. As detailed as their research is, however, it seems painfully obvious to me. The evidence is no further away than your own phone bills.

I, for example, have switched my home phone over to Verizon's VoIP service, which they have branded VoiceWing (snicker all you want). Cost: $29.95 per month. Vonage and other VoIP providers can be used for less, though I've found that $20 per month seems to be about the bargain basement for all you cheap-o's out there. Now, can you run your enterprise telephony needs on Vonage? Definitely not. But there are solutions out there to help enterprises drastically reduce their wireline telecom bills.

Now compare that small expenditure to my wireless bill, and it's night and day. I pay Verizon Wireless over $90 for a reasonable voice plan and a low-tier data plan. That's three times the cost, and it's not really all that much. I know power users who spend well over $150 a month for ridiculous buckets of minutes and basically have their wireless phones glued to their heads constantly (you know who I'm talking about, Ed).

At my last full-time job, I had a good old trusty PBX sitting on my desk and a work-provisioned BlackBerry. Honestly, I never touched my PBX. ALl it did was gather dust. My mom probably called me on that phone more than anyone else. My employer was, however, shelling out about $100 a month on my voice and data plan for the BlackBerry. There's no way my PBX bill, even lumped in with the overall organization, amounted to that much each month.

The point of all this is, with the number of mobile employees requiring voice and data plans on the rise, enterprises can expect their cellular bills to rise as well. The key for cost-conscious enterprises is to negotiate with your local, long-distance and wireless providers and get the best batch of plans available. Don't be afraid to look at new technology, like VoIP other IP-based systems. Countless engineers worked hard on them to save you money. The least you could do is pay attention for a few moments.

Dell Gets Tough

2007-01-18T02:19:00Z

Mainstream PC maker Dell has not been known for its overly durable products. With competitors offering "ruggedized" hardware that's more durable, however, Dell decided to get its rough-and-tumble game on.

Dell couldn't ignore it any longer. With companies like Panasonic advertising its ToughBook line-up during NFL games, anyone interested in a strong, durable, PC that can handle the hard knocks of life out in the field (i.e., harsh weather, riding shotgun in trucks all day, etc.), had to turn to one of several rugged PC makers for that type of gear. Just ask your local police department. Its probably running Panasonics, and has for over a decade. Being the world's largest PC maker, that must have pissed Dell off. Losing sales to those guys? "C'mon," they must have thought. "We're from Texas. We can't let some lame NJ-based company whip us at our own game!"

The problem for Dell was, the regular laptops (Dell, HP, Apple, Lenovo) are the geeks of the laptop world, boasting the latest and greatest chipsets, processors, memory and so on. Are these formidable business and media machines? Sure. They may get the job done for the average office punk who deals in spreadsheets and presentations, but they are no match for the bullies of the laptop world. They are a different breed altogether. Real computers, like real men, work in the real world. That means outside, on utility poles, next to whirring AC units, in the dank and wet sewer systems, where their users need raw computing power in environments where dainty geek PCs were not meant to go.

Think Jack Palance or Clint Eastwood. You think either of those guys would use a Dell? Think again. (Don't think too hard, though, because you might quickly realize that neither of them has used a computer in their lives.)

Ruggedized hardware may not have the fastest and most up-to-date chips, but they'll pound the snot out of their wimpy geek laptop co-workers. And because this type of rugged, I-can-eat-your-workload-in-the-rain type of computer is making bigger strides into the enterprise, Dell felt it was necessary to develop it's own breed of brute.

So Dell put on its game face, smeared on the black paint, and built its own semi-rugged laptop, complete with helmet and shoulder pads (figuratively speaking, of course). You can read about the PC itself here.

The real question is, can Dell make up for lost time? Its competitors have been in this market for a long time and have the technology down. They know now to beat up the machines in the lab so they don't fail in the field. Will Dell's semi-rugged laptop hold its own against time-tested veterans like that? As they say, time will only tell.