CIO CORNER

Over 1 Billion Served (Or Are They?)

By Mohamad Ali | May 17, 2010

Analysts predict that the world’s mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and that another 200 million will be added to the ranks by 2013. In the enterprise, 70% of all net new ports will be wireless – partly driven by the high connection speeds that can now be achieved with 802.11n devices.

Shipment of mobile smartphones to the Enterprise exceeded desktop handset shipments last year. So is the deskphone going away? Not likely. Most industry watchers agree the deskphone and mobile devices are likely to co-exist for years to come. But prevailing wisdom is that the deskphone and the Enterprise network must evolve to embrace the new reality of “wireless as primary access.”

As a CIO that means rethinking strategies for deployment of wireless access equipment and endpoint devices. For example, the economics of keeping the wireless control and data plane together should be considered – since the data plane capacity requirement is more tightly coupled to end-user growth and will grow more rapidly.

With regards to the Enterprise worker, it will be all about the “experience.” Today’s SIP-based multimedia conferencing may offer capabilities such as showing the video of whoever is currently talking. But what about mobile conferencing participants? How do we ensure that they can equally participate in productive collaboration sessions? How do we bring the mobile worker into the HD videoconferencing session?

There are also service delivery implications. For example, recent events in the gulf of Mexico and in New York Times Square are stark reminders of the importance of E911 and emergency notification systems to the Enterprise. CIOs must ensure that mobile endpoints are integrated into these systems.

There are learnings from past activities that we can leverage today. For example, early attempts at using SIP to integrate mobile (UMTS/HSPA) and fixed (PC) video endpoints in Europe did result in high subscriber-to-subscriber usage, but were great for personalized help desk assistance.

SIP is the most likely enabler to tie together these applications, the network, and the different devices to exponentially harness their full potential. I’d enjoy your thoughts on what you believe is in store as we all walk through the door of this new reality together!

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