Wireless Computing

This month's issue of Handheld PC Magazine focuses on peripherals and accessories. In my column this month, I am going to look at some of the peripherals for mobile communications that you can expect to see come to market during 1999.

Wired modems not enough

For several years now, there has been an interest in enabling Windows CE devices with communications capabilities. As soon as the first H/PCs hit the market, PC Card vendors delivered modems so that we could use these devices to dial-up and access our e-mail and/or the Internet. Several H/PC vendors went as far as to build in modems because they understood that Windows CE devices were ideal for portable information access.

When Palm-size PC devices hit the market, several companies, including Socket and Pretec announced wired modems that plug into the CompactFlash slot to enable these junior members of the Windows CE family as well. And when the new H/PC Professional units hit the market last fall, a built-in dial-up modem was included as standard fare.

Many Windows CE users have found that the ability to plug into a phone line and use these mobile devices to connect to information resources truly adds value by giving them access to information that they previously were not able to access. However, finding a phone jack, configuring the Windows CE device, and then dialing up an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or dialing directly back to a corporate Remote Access Server (RAS) is not always easy. Sometimes it takes more time to set up the connection than it seems to be worth.

Wireless communications

The answer to this dilemma is to make use of a wireless modem and a wireless service capable of providing data access when a phone line is not available. Novatel has gone so far as to build both a wireless data modem and a wired modem into its H/PC, so that users can choose the method that makes the most sense in given circumstances.

The rest of the industry has been slow to embrace wireless connectivity for Windows CE devices for a number of reasons, including the fact that using such a device through a wireless network and gaining access back to your own corporate data has been fraught with problems and frustrations. The good news is that companies such as the recently formed joint venture between Qualcomm and Microsoft known as WirelessKnowledge, as well as back-end service providers such as General Magic and GoAmerica and others have stepped up to address this issue.

The rude awakening

It was not until Palm Computing introduced its Palm VII complete with a built-in wireless modem on the BellSouth Wireless Data network that Windows CE vendors really started to sit up and take notice! Even though the Palm VII is not yet available, and even though I believe that it will not be a complete success because of some major limitations, the Palm VII has energized the Windows CE vendors as well as Microsoft. I expect that we are going to see a lot of scrambling by these vendors in order to "catch up" to the Palm VII offerings.