HSxPA and the enterprise

Wireless data services over 3G have gained credibility among business users in recent months, with the arrival of HSDPA and variants that have improved throughput performance coupled with improved coverage.

By Guy Matthews, 22 Jan 2007 at 10:39

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With Wi-Fi, WiMax and next generation mobile phone technologies all presenting strengths and weaknesses, a key question is can they live together or are they on a fast track where only one can win.

"Every now and than there is a new technology which is claimed to be a 'killer' app," says On Kalich, director of product management with mobile data specialist Flash Networks. "At the moment it is still not clear whether these technologies will 'kill' or complement each other."

Complement, not kill, says T-Mobile's Bassi: "HSDPA can very easily complement other access technologies," he says. "For example, the businessperson travelling to a meeting can benefit from HSDPA as he downloads and views emails with attachments. Then after finishing the meeting they stop off for a coffee and connect their laptop, with a data card, to a Wi-Fi hotspot, to spend a focused hour or so downloading more elaborate files and attachments to work on and send back to the office."

So should businesses wait before committing to any single mobile data technology? No, says Peter Holsgrove, managing director of mobile internet advertising company asap.mobi: "Generally waiting will leave companies behind the rest of the field, and at a competitive disadvantage. At this stage, testing the technology via limited integration is a sensible move before you invest a large amount of money in any one system or product."

The cost of HSxPA justifies this sort of experimental expenditure, he believes, with the technology shaping up in the future to be extremely useful.