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 COLUMN
As vendors release unfinished technology, the enterprise becomes a guinea pig For some reason, the high-tech industry, more than any other industry I can think of, has a tradition of using the public as its test bed for unfinished or perhaps unrefined products.
No one would accept a refrigerator that crashes from time to time, a stove that won't start up, or a toaster that hangs. (Well, maybe a toaster. Toasters are the exception to the rule, what with burnt toast being something like an American family joke.) But exceptions noted, I'm sure you see my point. Maybe because high-tech companies know the public has a weakness for gadgets and computers, even when underdeveloped, they exploit it. For the most part, corporate IT has gotten wise to the high-tech industry. Many companies rigorously adhere to the rule of not buying an OS until after the first service pack release comes out. Public awareness is also higher than it used to be. Witness the almost universal advice not to buy any software release ending in a zero. But when it comes to wireless technology, are we business-to-business oriented people really any wiser? High-tech purveyors perhaps are just getting better at foisting beta technology on a market eager to be a part of the new technology or just fearful to not be a part of it. I can't tell you how many start-ups call per day with a wireless b-to-b solution for, let's say, sales force automation. When you ask them how their mobile software connects to ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, inventory, supply chain, or CRM (customer relationship management), they always say that's coming up in the next release. In other words, you should buy this halfway solution that becomes little more than a proprietary contact management database and hope the company survives long enough to release another version you can upgrade to. Yeah, right. The most obvious example of hoodwinking customers is that wonderful expression "coverage area" wherein less than a 100 percent is still a virtue. Officials at Bell South, just to pick on the company for a moment, are proud of the fact that they offer coverage for most of the U.S. population centers. Translation: If you don't live in one of the top 125 cities, don't buy a Palm VII for its wireless Web clipping service, because it won't work. If only the top cities count, why are messieurs Bush and Gore traveling by train and riverboat respectively to meet and greet the voters who live somewhere else? What's the next danger I see on the horizon? Well, if you put your ear to the ground, you can already hear the thunder of a thousand marketing horses coming down the corporate hallways heralding the inclusion of Bluetooth-enabled devices everywhere. Thank heavens there's still time to warn IT about Bluetooth. Don't let those horses dazzle you. There will be real problems with the first deployments. And I'll lay out some of the problems for you in a moment. Meanwhile, I can predict dozens of e-mail messages in my inbox from Bluetooth SIG group members saying, "Sure, there are still a few problems and it's not 100 percent, but it is only going to get better." As if less than 100 percent doesn't count. Remember those refrigerators. Why can't they wait until it gets to 100 percent before they foist it on us? So what are the unresolved problems with Bluetooth? It's on the same band as 802.1l used in wireless LANs and microwave ovens. Resulting collisions reduce performance and compromise data integrity. Because Bluetooth is always seeking other Bluetooth chips in devices at the next meeting, you could be sending your sarcastic e-mail messages about the CEO to the wrong person. The Federal Aviation Administration has not approved Bluetooth for use on planes, and if that's the case, how do you turn it off? By all accounts, another less-than-perfect technology is WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). But because many folks have already taken their shots at WAP, I won't talk about the technology per se. Deployment of WAP is another story and, in fact, is still a work in progress. Did you know that WAP is not available on Sprint's Wireless Web, ATT's PocketNet, nor Verizon's Mobile Web services, according to Scott Goldman, CEO of the WAP Forum? In fact there are no commercially available WAP services in the United States today. All of the above companies use a proprietary technology from Phone.com which uses HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language). All the network providers are publicly on the record as saying they will convert to WAP. However, if you are planning to deploy a solution now using one of these wireless networks and have a Phone.com enabled wireless phone, you should be aware that when an HDML phone taps into a WAP site it will see less than 100 percent of that site. "It won't get the fancy stuff," Goldman said. As long as the new WAP doesn't use any of that "fancy stuff" for imparting mission-critical information, I suppose that's OK. By the way, what are the chances that everyone in your company owns a WAP-enabled phone? Slim. While WAP phones are shipping in Europe, for the most part cell phones in the States are enabled with the Phone.com proprietary browser. I suggest that although there are no WAP services yet -- and of course they are coming -- don't buy WAP until the first service pack release. Update: Entries for the rename wireless contest are still coming in at a furious rate, and because the online and print versions of that column are not in sync, I need to wait another week before I name a winner and send out the champagne. By the way, for you sticklers out there: I do know that unless the grapes are grown in the Champagne region of France it should not be called champagne but more properly sparkling wine. Meanwhile, if you haven't sent in your suggestions, there's still time. E-mail them to me at ephraim_schwartz@infoworld.com. If you have any less-than-perfect wireless technology stories, send me those too. InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Francisco. MORE > SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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