With a host of technologies out there for the provision of mobile communications, which route should an enterprise take? In the current climate, organisations are seeking at best to grow and at worst stabilise their revenues. They are seeking to reduce latencies in their processes and speed up the time to market of their products and services.
At the same time there is constant pressure to reduce overheads just as communications costs are rising. More employees are using mobile communications, the cost of mobile devices is high and the time spent using them is increasing. This needs to be controlled and where possible reduced.
Enterprises are becoming more distributed, giving rise to decentralised, virtual teams, yet they need the same resources as if they were working in the same physical location. The number of employees with a “work at home” option is rising, forming an important part of mobile provision. The result is pressure to deliver mobility as a service in order to respond faster and differentiate the organisation.
Today’s communications landscape is replete with devices for each employee, from pocket to desktop, from smartphone to PC with VOIP. Individual devices are expensive, user interfaces and applications often differ from one device to another, while sharing data between them can be cumbersome and time-consuming even where it is possible.
The employee is also likely to have several contact numbers for the varying circumstances of office, home, mobile, Skype, IM and email – a far cry from the simple business card of less than two decades ago. The goal, though, is to return to having one number, but with an application in the background that finds the best way of contacting you: in other words, fixed mobile convergence (FMC).
Enterprise to carrier
There is an enterprise view of FMC and a contrasting carrier-centric view. For the former, FMC is about saving money, using least-cost routing and obtaining the best connection. For the latter, it is the carrier who wants to save and make money through cheaper back haul and increased traffic volumes.
Marcus Birkl, VP Mobility Solutions at Siemens Enterprise Communications suggests that it is not the job of the enterprise to help operators save money but, nevertheless, both can work together for mutual benefit: “Within the enterprise domain or campus, 802.11n brings the necessary scalability, reliability and bandwidth. For carriers, LTE is the dominant approach.”
Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an extension to the two key 3G technologies: GSM and UMTS. LTE is backed by leading telecommunications companies including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, T-Mobile and NTT DOCOMO. Tests with pre-standard equipment have delivered peak speeds of over 100 Mbps and industry analysts expect first commercial availability in 2010.
The challenge is to unify 802.11n wi-fi – preferable for enterprise because it is multi-service with non-minute-based charging – and cellular LTE for a seamless service: full roaming Unified Communications over LTE and wi-fi: “To be a viable solution, it has to connect everything of value that moves over wireless networks. Emerging users have grown up with new and different ideas on how we communicate and our vision of UC has to accommodate this: they want the iPhone environment, for instance, in the enterprise environment within a secure, stable mobility solution,” says Birkl.
Tomorrow’s users want to click to dial, click to conference, to reach not only a chosen individual but someone on a team or within a department with the appropriate expertise to help. As a user I want support for team working, team presence and beyond the enterprise eco-system into the wider world. I want to control my availability – contactable when, where, by whom and what happens when I choose not to be available, whether stationary or on the move.
The foundation for this is the wireless enterprise – a multi-service network based on the WLAN, integrated into a public network: FMC. “The future is pervasive connectivity, including all enterprise PBX features available to the mobile worker on the device of their choosing, reduced data entry and paper trails, greater management and control and a significant reduction in communications costs,” he adds.
Evolving to UC
The various types of mobile user, from world traveller and road warrior to corridor wanderer and wireless desk jockey can each take advantage of the corporate WLAN, reducing their cellular minutes and international call outlay and reachable on the same number with one voicemail and one feature set. There are no roaming charges and no additional expense for visiting international branches.
Birkl predicts up to 40% reduction in the cost of mobile communications through a combination of VoWLAN (the often significant call cost of calls between workers on campus can be eliminated) and migration to 802.11n with the ultimate goal of UC.
This evolution is already under way in many forward-thinking organisations. One example is the Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust which has implemented mobility solutions that consolidate ageing paging and radio technology into a wi-fi/FMC solution. It enables data access, alerts, protects existing investment in applications such as directories and improves service both to staff and patients.
The future of enterprise mobility, adds Birkl, lies in the next step on from fragmented silos of operation: combining the WLAN, public wi-fi and cellular into an integrated whole.
