The Era of Pervasive Mobility

Increase in Productivity

The changing role of information technology in corporations and institutions throughout the world was responsible for major productivity gains in the workplace during the last decade of the twentieth century. That was, of course, accompanied by the rise of the Internet, which brought together masses of information and united disparate communities of interest all over the world. However, massive computerization also brought total dependence on computing and information resources often available only at a limited number of select locations, such as corporate headquarters or data centers. The newly available services, so indispensable to users in their offices, are more and more often requested from remote locations such as satellite or home offices, customer sites, and from the road. These needs in turn drive demand for global network roaming and ubiquitous remote network access. The uncertainty of the location where the user will require access imposes the need for mobile (dynamic) private connectivity to the home network to be available throughout a wide area (also referred to as ubiquitous access).

Mobile Device Evolution

It is hard to underestimate the role of personal communication and computing devices—such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smart mobile phones, and laptop computers leaving the factory with multiple built-in wireless interfaces—in the evolution of mobile communications. Plummeting prices, increasing user-friendliness, and feature richness are now making these devices not only increasingly available and desirable for ever-increasing groups of mobile professionals, but often indispensable.

The latest example of such devices is a slew of PDAs and PDA-based mobile phones that are approaching earlier-generation desktop computers in memory and processing power. Manufacturers like HP, Toshiba, Sony, Nokia, and Palm are leading this trend. These small, low-powered wonders can support multiple modes of wireless communications (Infrared, Bluetooth, WLAN, and GPRS or CDMA2000), VPN clients, and a micro-browser bundled with the operating system. This combination of features makes them ideal for secure access to remote corporate networks.

Cellular Systems Advances

The third driver for pervasive mobility is the rapid build-out and consolidation of cellular systems resulting in more and more uniform wide-area wireless coverage and increasingly inexpensive services. Cellular coverage has become so widespread and inexpensive that it is driving other technologies out of business. This resulted in a situation where alternative wide-area wireless access systems, such as satellite, had been deemed unnecessary by a paying public whose low demand forced them into bankruptcy or niche markets. Good examples of those are now defunct satellite operator Iridium and Inmarsat, which is forced to specialize on maritime navigation. In fact, cellular service in some areas, ranging from highly saturated European and Japanese markets to developing nations completely lacking landline infrastructure, became so ubiquitous and affordable that it began to replace landline phone service.