Gartner helps IT pros navigate mobile maze at summit

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Most business and IT decision makers are aware that mobile technology has the power to transform the way their employees work as well as reducing costs and aiding competitive advantage, but many remain in the dark as to how to move things from vision into reality without major upheaval.

To help achieve this and navigate the maze of devices, providers and potential solutions out there, hundreds of technology architects, engineers and directors flocked to London's Metropole Hilton today for the first day of analyst Gartner's Wireless and Mobile Summit.

The main theme of the event is 'Creating business value from technology innovation' because, according to Gartner, the ability to derive real value from mobility isn't always straightforward.

The mobile and wireless worlds are notoriously dynamic and users will always bear the brunt of the issues associated with moving from the old to the new. This is a load the analyst is hoping to lighten by bringing together its experts under the same roof as vendors and end users who have mobile and wireless success stories.

"In a dynamic and often uncertain climate, business decisions concerning mobile and wireless technologies are becoming all the more complex and difficult to make," said Monica Basso, Gartner's research vice president, who opened the conference this morning.

"Mobile networks are evolving toward 3.5G, WiMax and WiBro are changing the face of wireless broadband, and consumerisation is morphing mobile phones into a diverse range of rich multimedia entertainment devices. Strategic decision making in the face of such change is difficult to execute so, based on a plethora of new research, Gartner will update attendees at this year's Mobile and Wireless Summit on the forthcoming challenges and opportunities the markets will present. The information Gartner will provide should go a long way to helping companies make an informed decision in this ever changing environment."

As the mobile value chain becomes even more complex, there is an increasing struggle between the numerous players - mobile operators, device makers, content providers, media brands and traditional figures - to control the user experience.

One of these added complexities is the birth of fixed/mobile convergence (FMC), which Martin Gutberlet, another research vice president, talked about during a session this afternoon entitled 'Beyond Wireless: Fixed/Mobile Convergence.'

"Fixed Mobile Convergence will change the way communications occurs in your daily work, but few companies are truly leveraging the huge opportunities today," he said.

Ten per cent of businesses in the UK are actively embracing FMC and some seven per cent have plans to deploy it within two years, according to research published earlier this year by Vanson Bourne on behalf of telecoms software specialist Martin Dawes Systems.

Three-quarters of those surveyed wanted to reduce costs through FMC, while 63 per cent were productivity hungry.

"2006 was the year FMC became a real contender in the industry with the first commercial products and services brought to market," said Tom Hodgson, sales and marketing director at Martin Dawes Systems.

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