Managing global wireless diversity

The adoption of wireless technology varies worldwide, as systems, pricing and preferred devices differ from country to country. That makes it virtually impossible, at least for now, for a company to standardize wireless around the globe, and it doesn't pay to wait for one specific standard to emerge. The best companies can do today is choose the best wireless technologies by region and business unit, and achieve maximum return on investment for those purchases now. Start with business units or locations to mitigate risk. Also, embrace emerging wireless devices by standardizing on units such as the BlackBerry, and make sure your company's systems are compatible with them. Use multi-channel access gateways or wireless application gateways when you need to wirelessly reach back-end systems such as Oracle or SAP. These gateways provide a buffer between the wireless devices and the back end, so users can swap out and migrate to the wireless technology. Deploy Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) for globe-trotting executives; the PC card allows a notebook or BlackBerry to connect to the Internet across a cellular network and provides an 802.11b adapter in the same card. When users are in range of a public or private hot spot, they can connect at up to 11Mbit/sec.

Read more about global wireless:
- read the article at ComputerWorld