Recent improvements

Both devices and network technologies have improved by leaps and bounds in the past year or so:

• Wireless LANs have improved in the area of security
• Devices now have color screens, more memory and faster processors, which devices such as BlackBerrys have incorporated into their newest designs
• Cellular carriers now support IP packets, meaning data can pass over existing voice networks
• Prices for both devices and network time are dropping between 15 percent and 20 percent each year
• Many vendors, including Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, are building wireless functionality into new versions of their software; on the hardware side, Intel's Centrino processor now supplies built-in wireless support
• Security is improving as vendors add security features to their wireless devices to compensate for the security limitations inherent in many legacy protocols. 802.11b showed up—with security and standards

Getting started

What's a good strategy for getting a wireless project off the ground?

Start by figuring out what kind of information needs to be accessed, by whom and from where.

Evaluate how easily it will be to access the information that is going to be sent out to wireless devices. Is the information coming from a variety of sources? Is the information too large to be conveniently accessed on a PDA or phone?

Start small, with a pilot project, but keep in mind that not all projects will be scalable for a larger rollout or more robust applications.

Keep realistic expectations in mind. Ask the following questions:

• Coverage – how large an area am I asking my wireless to cover?
• Speed and bandwidth needed to run an application-will I have enough?
• Device interface-does the application work well on a small screen?