InformationWeek

Carnegie Mellon uses homegrown SNMP-based network monitoring, and is looking for a more efficient method to update software at the access points. Currently, those points are accessed for network-management functions, such as configuration and updates, one by one through the existing wired network. Since roaming isn't a network-management function, users aren't affected. By comparison, wired networks usually have the ability to update all nodes en masse. A central help desk supports wired and wireless users, who are equivalent in their demands for support.

The potential for worldwide wireless connectivity promises to elevate Palm-type devices from glorified day planners to the hub of all personal connectivity. Looking ahead, companies such as BG Group are piloting PDA-based activities as part of a vision to transform themselves into connected enterprises. BG Group has given memory-heavy Palm V devices to its CEO and about 220 top executives worldwide and about 80 Palm III PDAs to recent hires who just graduated from college. Using Enterprise 3 software from AvantGo Inc., users can download such information as employee directories and press summaries. This is done through docking and synchronization with a desktop PC, but BG Group is also experimenting with updates using cell phones and infrared links.

Each PDA is password-protected and asset-tagged for tracking by one of two holding companies. "The program has already paid for itself just in terms of individual efficiency," says BG Group's O'Connor, adding that the costs of wireless access are a continuing concern because it's more expensive to transmit over wireless cellular networks compared with wired networks.

"We have just scratched the surface of what we want to do with these devices. In today's economy, people need information to do their jobs. We're going to keep adding accessible information such as information on worldwide gas markets. It helps people stay connected, and they can be sure they are accessing the latest information."

The biggest limitation to expanded usage is, of course, bandwidth. Although wireless bandwidth is, in theory, virtually limitless, it is regulated worldwide by governmental bodies such as the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC allocates slices of bandwidth to various activities, ranging from military communications to television and even wireless. Amex is planning to double its wireless network to 2 Mbps. Carnegie Mellon is looking closely at an 11-Mbps system, which will undoubtedly spur user demand for access. As a result, John Huffman, senior engineering manager at Symbol, suggests that scalability be a key requirement for any wireless network-management system, but scalability isn't simple. The convenience of wireless systems encourages usage. Each mobile unit that is added to a system must be tracked as it roams. A huge amount of processing is required to both track the roaming and manage the access points and potential subnets. Too many devices on the system, and not enough processing capacity, can easily overwhelm the network-management system.

But one of the biggest issues doesn't involve technology. Instead, it revolves around control of "employee-optional" technologies. Palms, Windows CE devices, and other relatively inexpensive devices are spreading faster than spring dandelions, and they often hold valuable data. How can managers ensure that appropriate data policies are followed? What about potential support of these disparate devices? As voice and data converge, will the IT or the telecommunications department be responsible for standards and support? If workers buy their own devices, can they use corporate networks and resources?

One answer is to buy employees PDAs or other wireless terminals despite the lack of immediate evidence that it pays to do so. Companies already buy employees cell phones, primarily because of an intuitive understanding of the benefits. For example, the Strategis Group estimates that 15 million of the total 88 million cell phone users in the United States are at least partially reimbursed by employers. Noting that his company provides notebooks and cell phones to many employees, PeopleSoft's Beer says a similar policy with PDAs could help ensure standardized implementations and lower support costs.

Chuck Bartel, Carnegie Mellon director of operations for computer services, recommends that IT managers kick-start wireless initiatives. "By setting up a campuswide network, we can define standards and ensure a good degree of interoperability," he says. "If we had let demand bubble up from the bottom, we would have faced a much more challenging problem and not have gotten a network with as much quality and coverage as we now have."

In fact, Carnegie Mellon is testing the idea of bringing handheld devices into its wireless network as full peers, and deployment for 1,000 users is expected in the fall. The university's 400 PDA users have access to the wireless network for E-mail and Web browsing, but not as full peers. This means that they cannot print from their mobile devices and cannot use the group calendaring capabilities of the network. Of course, they can do these functions if they dock with an intermediary PC. Network-management issues don't change; the existing network-management system continues to manage them in the same way.

Even though universal wireless connectivity may not be ready for prime time because of bandwidth and other constraints, Mathias recommends that companies start pilots now to understand such issues as security, authentication, and transaction integrity.

O'Connor calls his cell phone and Palm Pilot "desert-island devices"--the only two items he would take if he were stranded. Companies, however, need to start looking at wireless and other linkages of these devices to ensure that they don't become the islands of automation that PCs once were.

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