April 2003
IP Telephony Applications Go Wireless
BY LAURA THOMPSON
By 2006, industry analyst firm IDC predicts that 66 percent of U.S.
workers will be mobile workers, either full- or part-time. This
increasingly �wireless workforce� has a number of unique constraints and
requirements that are bringing about dramatic changes to the business
communications landscape, and a new class of mobile IP applications is
arising to serve their needs.
Mobile workers have essentially driven the demand for constant
connectivity, which has, in turn, fueled the rise of Wi-Fi, GSM/GPRS and
other wireless technologies as well as new cross-functional devices such
as PDA-style mobile phones. Wireless access is now available (or soon will
be) in most airports, hotels, and other public locations, and at private
sites such as the ubiquitous Starbucks chain of coffee houses.
Concurrently, mobile workers are increasingly using newer communications
options such as SMS, instant messaging, and location- and presence-based
services. This trend is over and above their current uses of traditional
corporate applications like PBX services, conferencing, and other related
services. The proliferation of communications services, including in-house
phone systems, voice mail, e-mail, paging, mobile and landline phones, and
other devices, contributes to mobile workers� overall productivity but
creates new challenges in managing these diverse media. Further, for
users, it means having to learn a number of different interfaces and
commands to operate each separate system.
By blurring the lines between voice and data, IP-based networks and
services allow new �blended� communications capabilities that can offer
consolidated interfaces that are well-suited for mobile workers as well as
their office-dwelling co-workers. For example, IP Centrex services replace
in-house phone systems and bring new capabilities that offer users
unparalleled control over who can reach them, where, when, and via which
device. Users no longer have to give out multiple phone numbers to allow
their important contacts to reach them, and need check only one mailbox
rather than two or even three locations throughout the day.
To address the challenge of multiple interfaces, vendors of IP-based
communications applications offer easy-to-use browser-based portals. For
example, in many IP Centrex applications, portals consolidate control of
PBX-type and related communications services into one manageable location
while providing additional features such as call logs, centralized,
searchable company-wide contact directories, synchronization with
Microsoft Outlook directories, and hosted ACD services.
What if it were possible to make these same types of portals available to
wireless remote users, via almost any wireless device? Among the chief
advantages are that wireless users could be connected to the corporate
communications network, with access to all of the corporate telephone
services and productivity tools that their wired counterparts access on a
daily basis. Further, wireless users would have not only the ability to
make phone calls, but would gain access to many new communications options
previously unavailable to them.
Using Web services and other open standards, portals can now be made
available on almost any device a mobile worker might choose to use --
including browsers; applications such as Outlook; WAP, Wi-Fi, and GPRS-enabled
mobile phones; and SIP phones, among others. The Web services model has
achieved widespread success in the data world, by providing programmatic
interfaces for application-to-application communication. This powerful
model is a natural fit for the telecommunications world, as well -- and
the wireless realm, with its divergent protocols and special requirements,
is a perfect place to apply it.
The Web services model can be supported by a wide variety of devices
and operating systems, spanning wireline and wireless devices, browsers,
desktop applications, and many other applications and tools. Within this
concept, additional protocols such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
team to provide the underlying framework that enables such advanced
interconnectivity.
In practical usage, imagine this scenario: A salesperson working for a
Chicago-based company is in Mobile, Alabama and needs to access the
corporate network to look up the phone number of one of her clients, and
check for messages at the same time. She stops in at a nearby Starbucks,
and orders a tall non-fat latte. She doesn�t have her laptop with her, but
she does have her new mobile PDA-type phone, and she can use that to
accomplish the same thing -- and besides, it beats hauling a heavy laptop
around everywhere.
Since Starbuck�s offers a Wi-Fi hotspot, users of an IP-Centrex type
service can simply log on. Within seconds, she has connected to the
corporate VPN and is busily checking her messages and then looking up
client phone numbers. To make a call, she simply clicks on the number --
and the service connects her to the customer through the central IP
Centrex server, which sends the caller ID of her office phone to protect
her mobile identity.
After hanging up -- and finishing the latte -- she�s now heading into a
large customer meeting where she�ll be tied up for several hours. She uses
her phone�s wireless portal again to change her call forwarding settings,
sending most calls directly to voice mail while more important callers are
forwarded to the sales assistant back at corporate for immediate handling.
On concluding the customer meeting, she has just one location to check for
her latest voice messages.
As she drives to her next appointment she realizes that to do all of this
even three years ago would have taken many phone calls and assistance from
a secretary -- or she would have had to swing by the office first. Through
mobile IP applications, she now has an unprecedented degree of control
over her business communications, along with new flexible options that fit
her workstyle.
As the mobile workforce grows, additional services and applications will
be necessary to fulfill the needs of this unique segment. Through IP-based
communications services and open standards, scenarios such as these will
become commonplace, improving productivity and connectivity for mobile
workers wherever they choose to work.
Laura Thompson is vice president of corporate marketing at
Sylantro
Systems Corp., a member company of the International Softswitch Consortium
(ISC). The ISC is the premiere forum for the worldwide advancement of the
next generation networks through products, services, applications, and
solutions utilizing packet-based voice, data and video communications
technologies available today via any transport medium including but not
limited to copper, broadband and fiber optics. For more information visit
www.softswitch.org.
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