MOBILE PRESENCE: VENDORS GET A FIX ON THE ENTERPRISE

If vendors at CTIA's Wireless 2003 show in New Orleans last month decided that the best way into carriers' wallets is through the enterprise, those pushing presence and availability management (PAM) appear ready with a hefty application they claim is an instant differentiator.

Though relatively new to wireless, PAM and its most well-known application, instant messaging, are starting to make inroads, particularly with early enterprise adopters. Moreover, vendors predict it will take less time to convince wireless carriers of IM's potential than their wireline brethren. Part of the reason could be wireless IM's rapid acceptance among young adults.

At CTIA, Danger Inc., which developed the Sidekick wireless data device sold through both T-Mobile and Triton PCS, announced an expansion of its agreement with AOL that will provide wireless access to AOL e-mail accounts. About 70% of current Sidekick users, who already have AOL's IM client built in to their devices, are using IM on a daily basis, said Hank Nothhaft, chairman and CEO of Danger.

But reaching that level with enterprise users will take more than simple text-based IM, and vendors appear split on exactly how fast carriers will make the jump to PAM-based apps. Glenayre, for instance, is playing off its strength in the SMS market to move into presence management. In one simple demonstration, the company teamed up with Teltier to provide what it calls Missed Call Alert. The applications sends an SMS with a list of all the phone numbers that called while the user was out of reach.

“It's going to turn non-revenue-generating traffic into revenue-generating traffic,” said Joellyn Sargent, vice president of marketing for Glenayre. “For the user, it gives people a lot more control over the way they communicate.”

In a more complex demonstration, Teltier and Glenayre showed instant conferencing, which allows users to bring together dozens of people without prior setup. The goal is to not only to provide a user's location but their state of availability. For example, a user on the go would only be conferenced in via voice without being expected to follow along with a presentation.

“Location combined with presence is a very powerful indicator of context,” said Sharad Sharma, CEO and co-founder Teltier. Teltier has already begun to combine status information with Lotus and Microsoft calendaring applications as a way to make presence information more meaningful without placing an additional burden on the user.

“In an always-on world, the fact that my phone is on doesn't mean I'm available,” said Guda Venkatesh, chief technology officer and co-founder of Teltier. “My availability depends on a lot of factors. The more information you know about context the better.”

Not everyone is convinced carriers will move that fast, though. Wireless Services Corp. used CTIA to unveil a universal messaging client that acts as a bridge between SMS and IM. Subscribers can use the platform to send, receive, forward and reply to SMS messages using a Pocket PCTM device, PDA or personal computer.

“We're not doing presence management yet,” said Kevin McKeand, chief operating officer of WSC, noting that carriers still have plenty of technical issues to work on. “We're working to perfect the system.”