As wide-area wireless network technology becomes a standard element in just about every enterprise network these days, a growing number of companies are exploring new ways to wrench out more speed and quality out of their mobile links. Such technologies include Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) and other 3G technologies. These wireless apps are helping IT administrators move beyond simply offering email to implementing business applications like salesforce automation that are optimized for wireless delivery. The hope is that early adopters will secure a competitive edge or build better efficiencies into their business processes. The sales force of large companies is a natural beneficiary of these sorts of technologies and industries like pharmaceuticals, financial services, insurance and media are buying into the technology at a rapid pace. The technologies can help companies and their sales staff reach rural areas, and can bring an end to the search for hotspots that support your network configurations. Cost has also come down and in most cases is no longer an issue for CIOs. The market potential for this technology is huge: "There's probably around three million EV-DO cards out there today, and there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 million users of wireless," Tim Donahue, vice president of business marketing at Sprint, told Networkworld. "We are still on the front end of this curve."
For more on 3G and EV-DO:
- look for the article in Networkworld
