Regulatory Issues Airlines already limit use of wireless devices on aircrafts. Will roadway bans be next? Some U.S. counties have banned outright the use of cell phones while driving, and three states—California, Florida and Massachusetts—limit the use of cell phones in moving vehicles (such as requiring the use of hands-free speaker and microphone systems). Whether such restrictions will gain further momentum is anyone’s guess, but the threat could inhibit companies that are rolling out wireless devices.

Growing Pains Unlike Europe and Asia, where wireless coverage is nearly ubiquitous, the United States still has geographic areas where wireless devices are useless. The best wireless service providers don’t even reach 70 percent of the United States today. Redman says he doesn’t expect that situation to improve anytime soon. Between now and 2005, Redman sees wireless vendors improving their current networks to meet increased demand, but not expanding networks to reach new markets in more remote locations. The other harsh reality for CIOs is integration. To be effective, wireless devices must be integrated with traditional networks and databases, which calls for a whole new set of IT skills and tools. And then there are the security issues, which companies are only starting to deal with today.

Still, even if wireless isn’t quite ready for prime time, it’s the wise CIO who makes the technology a key component of the strategic plan. "CIOs need to start planning for wireless," Redman says. "Those who wait will be left behind."

The Prediction
The world is going wireless—regardless of the health concerns. These solutions will be expensive, and some of them won’t work. But the risk of trying and failing is a lot less costly than the risk of doing nothing at all.

-Tom Field

Speech Recognition

The Trendline
A few years ago, a new technology arrived with the promise to drastically increase productivity. Instead of typing, you could simply say, "speech recognition," to magically make words appear on your screen. Unfortunately, the words that actually appeared were more than likely "please recondition" or "peach desiccation," than the original phrase. Sloppy translation and endless training sessions were hallmarks of early speech recognition software. But despite such pitfalls, the idea of voice-enabled applications and even a voice-enabled Internet hasn’t lost its allure. And now vendors are recommitting to the task.

The Promise
Besides the obvious liberation from keyboard tyranny, vendors hope to extend the Internet to telephones and vice versa. And they’ve developed the technology to make it happen. AT&T, IBM, Lucent and Motorola founded the VoiceXML Forum to further a new XML extension that will voice-enable Internet content. Imagine having a computer read your e-mail to you over the phone or the ability to make purchases off a website simply by speaking. Improved processor speed and higher bandwidth means your computer won’t crash or stall when it actually comes time to use the software.