News & Announcements

A Wireless World
By Lynn Haber, eWeek from July 17, 2007


Enterprise wireless networking may be old hat to many channel companies, but new opportunities in mobile wireless networks and devices are ripe for the picking. Cellular wireless, in particular, is catching the eye of an increasing number of solution providers and paving the way for new solutions business.

So convinced is Gary Meszaros, co-founder and vice president of a San Antonio solution provider, that mobile wireless is the key to future growth that he is putting his money where his mouth is. Meszaros' company, Global On-Line Computers, has invested about $45,000 to explore the possibilities of network access from anywhere coupled with back-office IT integration.

"Equipped with a laptop, air card, IP phone and router, I can access all the functionality of the VOIP [voice over IP]-enabled phone system back in our office and at our second location, and I can log into my office desktop computer to get to all my business applications without ever having to keep documents on my computer," Meszaros said.

Meszaros' investment comes as the use of data over mobile networks is expected to receive a significant boost. Today, 11 million U.S. workers are mobile data users, and that number is expected to increase threefold by 2010, according to the Yankee Group. Already, 39 percent of the U.S. work force, or 51 million workers, is mobile, the Yankee Group said.

For mobile workers who don't want to depend on a hotel or Starbucks for Internet connectivity, cellular wireless presents an alternative—one to which solution providers are becoming attuned. Users who on average pay about $60 a month for cellular wireless data service from major carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon can instead turn to solution providers to install, configure, activate and support a laptop device or smart phone with a cellular wireless card, also known as an air card, that allows them to access and manage data wirelessly.

In addition, solution providers are adding VPN client software technologies to the overall cellular wireless solution, giving users a secure tunnel for access to corporate resources. Also being added are cellular backups, keeping users in business in failover cases.

Bull's-eye

With the Wi-Fi market reaching saturation for solution providers, Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, a systems integrator in Lake Forest, Calif., said third-generation cellular wireless is the bull's-eye for his business.

"For several vertical markets, such as manufacturing and distribution, construction and financial services, for example, who have employees in the field, mobile cellular is profoundly changing how they interact with and service their customers," Giobbi said.

Configured with Mobility XE, a software-only mobile VPN from NetMotion Wireless, users can move dynamically between cellular and Wi-Fi, he said. Citrix Systems software for enhanced application delivery rounds out the cellular wireless solution.

Like Meszaros, Giobbi touts his company as a walking demo. "We use lightweight laptops with wireless cellular, so in 15 minutes, we can be online talking quotes with our customers," he said.

Meszaros acknowledges that while his mobile wireless project is a work in progress and the solution remains too expensive for most small companies, it's his way to learn about the potential of the technology, work out the kinks and prime the business for the future. Demand is definitely growing, as Global On-Line customers request comprehensive Wi-Fi solutions, including digital cellular. "We have customers who want Internet access and network access 24/7 from anywhere," said Meszaros.

More VARs and integrators are sure to follow in the footsteps of Global On-Line and Zumasys. IDC analyst Leslie Rosenberg said she expects to see about 45 percent of VARs add solutions tying together laptops with wireless LANs and mesh wireless networks to their business in the next 18 to 24 months.

"Wireless technology is getting more mature and resellers who move to tie it all together can take advantage of it and can expect attractive margins," she said.

Wireless grows up

Industry watchers say when it comes to wireless technology purchases, businesses want to be technology-enabled rather than technology-empowered. The bottom-line question: Is the technology critical to business or simply nice to have?

Banking on it being the former, distributor Ingram Micro in 2006 consolidated its mobility practice under one roof. "Today, wireless technology is more usable [and] more affordable, and the networks are faster. And, with Windows Mobile, it's making it easier for VARs to take the step to mobility," said Mark Kuta, senior vendor business manager with the mobility division at Ingram Micro, in Santa Ana, Calif.

Windows Mobile-powered devices allow users to make phone calls; retrieve e-mail; access scheduling, calendars and contacts; browse the Internet; send and receive text messages; work with mobile Word and Excel; and view PowerPoint presentations. A developer platform, Windows Mobile also allows resellers to customize third-party software to devices, and more.

To help VARs make inroads into cellular wireless, Ingram Micro provides education, product information, and sales and marketing support. "We're also a master agent with the wireless carriers and have the ability to sign up VARs to become subagents so they can offer service activation," Kuta said. "They can make money on the activation, in addition to other services, and make the total solution more profitable."According to Kuta, VARs can make up to a couple of hundred dollars on voice and data service activation alone.

Maybe, maybe not, according to VARs that contend that they compete with retail stores for devices used in the field. With little room to compete, resellers discount devices with the money they make on activations.

"In most cases, selling devices is a money-losing business," said Kenny Gold, president of 20-year-old Star Communications, a Beverly Hills, Calif., VAR focused on cellular wireless and middleware. So Gold builds mobile solutions on RIM's BlackBerry, a device that's not given away, unlike those the telephone companies give their customers.

"A lot of resellers are disenfranchised with the activation fees, particularly when you work directly with the telcos," Giobbi said.

Telco customer service is poor, he added. "The carriers are used to selling voice, not data, and they're more focused on larger sale opportunities," Giobbi said. "They make it cumbersome to place an order."

Unlike device and software vendors that partner with the channel to drive sales, the carriers use their own sales staffs. Carriers are good at providing connectivity, but not much else, say industry watchers.

"What the carriers don't have a good sense of is how to create mobile wireless packages that can revolutionize users' lives," said Lisa Pierce, an analyst at Forrester Research.

More specifically, Pierce refers to the ability to provide custom cellular wireless solutions that meet specific business-segment requirements. She cited small businesses that face the customer with wireless service as well as higher-end small and midsize business customers that don't need a land line but need combined wireless, voice and data.

"There's a wonderful opportunity for resellers who can bridge this gap," Pierce said.Doug Migliori, vice president of business development at ADC Technologies Group, in Newport Beach, Calif., said he agrees. "The carriers don't know how to sell applications," he said.

Besides, he said, many players in cellular wireless neglect the SMB space. But not ADC, which Migliori said has focused on the SMB since its inception 10 years ago, with a strong focus on supply chain and warehouse automation. What began with solutions composed of Telnet devices and dumb terminals for bar-code and data collection has today evolved into field solutions that use wireless broadband to access enterprise applications.

"We saw the pieces for these solutions converge over the past year," Migliori said, referring to the Windows Mobile operating system, converged devices, broadband service, affordable price points and an acceptable user experience.

Migliori explained that his foot in the door with customers is a mobile warehouse solution. For wireless data collection, tracking and inventory, ADC offers a line of mobile scanners and computers from Symbol Technologies, now part of Motorola. "Then we go for the follow-up sale with mobile wireless for the guys in the field," he said.

Curve ball

In providing cellular wireless service, solution providers face a curve ball from the carriers. U.S. carriers are aligned with one of two competing broadband formats: the EVDO network supported by Sprint and Verizon, and the Edge Network, supported by AT&T, formerly Cingular, and T-Mobile.

Competing networks require device manufacturers to build separate radios for each network. It also drives customer decisions based on networks rather than what they need to do, resellers contend.

"As a solutions provider, we want to be carrier-agnostic and provide the customer with the best device and software that meets their business needs," Migliori said. "We didn't have to deal with this when we're dealing with Wi-Fi. And, in Europe, they don't have to deal with competing networks."

Nevertheless, the carrier's inexperience in offering customers solutions to help them meet business goals is something solution providers have learned to exploit. Once providers give customers wireless cellular, the "wow factor" kicks in and there's no looking back. More lucrative solution sales follow.

"We provide our customers with integration and tech support," Meszaros said. "The carrier's tech support is clueless about data. It can take hours or days to get someone on the line who knows what they're talking about."

Another service to address customer needs, which Global On-Line and Zumasys offer, is cellular backup for failover. Using products from vendors such as Sonic Way, Cisco Systems and Top Global, VARs offer backup connectivity for when DSL or T1 lines, for example, go down.

Only the beginning

Extending the enterprise infrastructure with wireless is a growing opportunity for the channel. "Resellers need to ramp up their skills, educate staff and go back to their customers and start up a conversation about cellular wireless," IDC's Rosenberg said. Being a perpetual model for cellular wireless is just one way Zumasys helps educate business users about the technology. "Lack of knowledge about cellular wireless is one of our biggest challenges," said Giobbi.