Big Blue creates big blueprint IBM maps out a new wireless plan

IBM's name may be synonymous with many things in the business world, but wireless has not traditionally been one of them. Still, as wireless carriers seek to differentiate themselves through operations support and intelligent networking, it may be IBM's bread and butter that feed their needs.

In fact, the ever-deepening integration of these two realms-management and services-may be one of the single hottest trends governing the wireless industry right now. Recognizing this, IBM is positioning itself with solutions such as its Wireless Blueprint business framework to become a comprehensive software solutions house for wireless carriers.

"We can be a great help to wireless carriers as an integration mechanism," said Steve Mucchetti, general manager of telecommunications and media at IBM. "Leveraging our software integration expertise was the best entry for us into wireless.

That mindset drove the creation of Wireless Blueprint, a multilevel framework of intertwining business and technical support services designed to help wireless carriers prioritize themselves. On the business side, Wireless Blueprint takes into account competitive analysis, marketing and sales, planning and assessment and human resources, among other areas. These professional services tie together with technology offerings from IBM, including Telecommunications Management Network support services like NetView TMN, TMN Workbench and TMN Portable Agent. Also thrown into the mix are enhanced services like intelligent call center, voice-activated dialing, prepaid cellular, calling party pays and ARTour WebExpress, a wireless Internet access platform.

IBM is touting Wireless Blueprint at a time when the industry is seeing, through the emergence of personal communication services, the influx of a new generation of wireless carriers, many of which have little experience in planning, building and operating a wireless network. This opens IBM to a field of ripe possibilities, although new carriers are not the only targets for Wireless Blueprint, Mucchetti said.

"You hear things about only 4% of call volume providing at least 20% of the industry's revenue. There is an elasticity to this market that has yet to be exploited because many of the wireless carriers have been operating under the same old models, like just offering a portable voice service rather than talking about the types of value-added solutions they could bring," said Mucchetti.

The best that both old and new carriers can do is to set up an organizational framework that can respond to market drivers on all levels: business processes, technical support and network technology. "Integration is the key to managing our profoundly sophisticated wireless networks," said Mucchetti.

While wireless service will undoubtedly continue its boom as a consumer tool, Mucchetti believes the next wave of growth in industry revenue will be driven by corporate networks that want to extend their users into the mobile environment while keeping the transition transparent to the users themselves.

IBM is hoping carriers will turn to it as a guiding light for that transition, and certainly the IBM name, although not traditionally connected with wireless, does not hurt the company's chances. Still, Mucchetti does not subscribe to the theory that wireless carriers, in competitive and confusing times, will automatically turn to the biggest name vendors.

"In the wireless industry, it is always more about who is smart than who is big or who is little," he said.