Mobile Phones Leading Convergence Charge: IDC

Written by Adam Gosling

Friday, 02 June 2006

A recent IDC survey found that enterprise telecom managers believe 28 per cent of their employees are using their mobile phone as their primary work phone. It’s a number that could turn into a major corporate push for convergence to get back control of corporate communications and eliminate the time wasted managing multiple messaging pools. To do this IDC says enterprises are searching for solutions that extend their PBX and desktop phone functionality out to mobile devices, but the tools aren’t quite in place yet. Although services from mobile and fixed-line service providers that provide similar functions are being trialled, the adoption of these services will be hampered by the looming battle between enterprise communication networks and wireless carriers to determine where the line of demarcation should exist so that seamless handoffs between networks can occur, says IDC. Enterprises are eying off products that grant more desktop phone functionality to the mobile devices, providing the initial steps to regain control of wireless voice communications, as well as to promote employee productivity by reverting to single number contacts that eliminate multiple communication channels. One stumbling block, however, is the maturity of technologies that can seamlessly hand off calls between cellular and fixed line networks, according to the study. Until mobile carriers start offering such services products that integrate the two telephone technologies are starting to be available in off-the-shelf products now. "The adoption of mobile PBX extensions provides users with a remote control to their desktop phone," says Nora Freedman, research analyst with the Enterprise Networks group. "Features such as single number dialing, corporate directory access, and a common voicemail box for mobile and desktop phones are just some examples of how these solutions empower knowledge workers and increase productivity from their mobile device of choice." "Mobile operators will offer new enterprise services in the future; however, enterprises can use mobile PBX extension solutions to empower users and improve productivity today", says Freedman. Related news items Tiny Rugged UMPC WIth Vista -10/10/2007 Consumers Want FMC: Companies Don't See The Benefit -02/10/2007 Nokia Buys Map Company For US$8 Billion -02/10/2007 Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Next-Gen 3G RAZR DownUnder -24/09/2007 Newer news items Nokia Demos 3.6 Mbps 3G Broadband -19/06/2006 Nokia, Siemens Merge Divisions -19/06/2006 UPDATED: Wagga Wagga Gets Wireless Broadband -07/06/2006 BigAir Buys $600 Grand In Revenues -06/06/2006 Movies On The Move: Unwired First WIth Wireless Video -05/06/2006 Older news items Primus Offers Optus Mobile -01/06/2006 Unwired Signs Fairfax For Location-Based Content -31/05/2006 3 Australia Reaches 1 Million 3G Milestone -31/05/2006 Vodafone Reveals Strong Aussie Growth -31/05/2006 Unwired Forced To Defend Share Price -12/05/2006 Tag This Now: