Despite the initial lull in uptake in SA, wireless technology has now become one of the most widely marketed technologies since the PC.
The prospect of having a completely mobile workforce is an attractive one, but "businesses will have to rationalise their mobility needs and ensure that wireless specifications have been verified - to avoid disillusionment when expectations are not met - before they invest in any of the wireless technologies being offered in SA today," says Brian Tarr, managing executive of Business Connexion`s Networks Competency.
These include Sentech`s MyWireless broadband offering, Vodacom`s 3G offering and iBurst`s mobile Internet solution that uses radio frequency. These offerings will not only ensure greater Internet connectivity speeds, but will also allow the small and medium enterprise (SME) to get connected more cheaply and quickly. Previously, the high costs associated with fixed Internet connectivity prevented smaller businesses from taking advantage of this technology.
"As the year progresses, we can expect to see a convergence of these technologies, which implies the existence of one device that incorporates blue tooth, WiFi, Wimax and even the new roaming specification - 802.21. We will also start to see a number of unlicensed mobile access (UMA) technologies come to the fore," says Tarr.
As the mobile boom takes shape in SA, network managers will have to become more vigilant in protecting their networks. Security is one of the single greatest threats faced by any corporation and safety will still come first in the wireless enterprise.
The number of devices on the network will also present a fresh challenge as these need to be scaled according to the size of the network. Network managers are going to have to keep their eyes on this, he says. Signal strength will also add another dimension to the managing of wireless. The quality of a signal will certainly impact performance.
The most exciting element of wireless technologies is the fact that ultimately the consumer will benefit. Lower Internet connectivity costs and the greater choice afforded the end-user now will certainly result in a more competitive market, which bodes well for the general growth of the economy.
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