Exploring Next Generation Mobile Applications in the Enterprise:
The Case of Wireless in the Hospitality Industry
By David Strom
November 2007
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Exploring Next Generation Mobile Applications in the Enterprise:
The Case of Wireless in the Hospitality Industry
By David Strom
In today’s enterprises, wireless no longer equates to portable laptop connectivity and the
convenience of accessing email. Wireless is now a ‘must-have’ fixture in enterprise
environments, helping to boost productivity and operational efficiencies, improve customer
experience and create a competitive advantage in the enterprise. Beyond WiFi networks that
support laptops, cellular voice is now replacing landline telephones, 3G and WiMAX services
are delivering high-speed data transport, and a variety of wireless technologies are enabling
location based services, wireless building automation and personal networking applications. To
support this increasing range of wireless applications, enterprises will need cutting-edge
wireless infrastructures that provide coverage for a variety of wireless technologies operating
across multiple radio frequencies.
Several things have changed since the wired networking days in the mid-1990s, positioning
wireless as the primary connection medium for a variety of devices. First, the latest incarnations
of wireless networks have finally achieved adequately high throughput and low enough latency
to compete with wired connections, even for more bandwidth-intensive applications like
streaming media and voice over the Internet. Second, more users are mobile, taking their
cellular phones and PDAs with them to meetings and using laptops as their primary desktop
during the course of their day-to-day computing lives. Third, cellular and voice-over-Internet
phones (VOIP) have also replaced desk and landline phones as the primary telephone, making
better indoor cellular coverage and ubiquitous IP network