Wireless Internet's mystique: Inktomi takes the plunge into wireless data

Software-company Inktomi dove headfirst into the upwardly spiraling wireless Internet world last week, attempting to find its place between two converging technologies. The company struck six alliances in an effort to enter the wireless Internet infrastructure provider market.

To expand its reach into wireless, Inktomi made an investment in and formed an alliance with AirFlash for mobile phone-based Internet services. It also aligned with Cap Gemini and Portal Software for the provisioning and billing of wireless content and applications, Hewlett-Packard for its wireless hardware platform, Sun Microsystems for its wireless infrastructure solution set, Spyglass for content transformation and GWcom to enable advanced mobile commerce services. With these relationships, the company believes it will be a prominent player in the wireless Internet space.

"Having alliances will help bring a complete platform solution for operators," said Swapnil Shah, director of new technology for Inktomi. "Wireless operators now will know if they come to [us], there is an ecosystem of capabilities and technologies. This greatly increases time to market and reduces overhead."

Once the platform is in place and carriers are ready to make larger leaps into data, the next step is to gauge consumer interest. Many will want some services in the palm of their hands (see table).

However, some industry observers are uncertain about what types of Internet content consumers would want to view on a small cell phone screens. Right now, the focus is delivering wireless data that is conducive to mobile users.

"The information a user gets from the phone will be different than from a desktop, but they still are looking to access a data source, so the content has to be scalable," Shah said.

The mobile marketplace is expected to maintain its size advantage over the fixed marketplace into 2003, suggesting that carriers will have a lot of competition.

"Scale will be even more critical because so many users will be flooding the networks," Shah said. "Operators need a scalable infrastructure that allows them to deliver content to millions of different devices."

Inktomi's extended alliance with Spyglass will help it in this effort. The companies will deliver a content transformation solution that takes formatted Web content and adapts it to the capabilities of multiple mobile devices, such as cellular phones, palm devices and laptop computers with wireless modems. With the Spyglass Prism integrated in Inktomi's traffic server platform, wireless ISPs, network service providers and content providers could deliver faster access and optimal presentation of Internet content to Wireless Application Protocol-enabled mobile devices.

When it comes to adapting Web content for wireless applications, the industry must think in terms of services, said Randy Littleson, executive vice president and general manager with Spyglass.

"The whole market is driven by applications, and the Internet is just a means to an end," he said. Those who have been watching the wireless Internet evolve know that services such as purchasing plane tickets, checking stock quotes or sending e-mail are the most common applications for the wireless Web.

Because Spyglass has two different markets - interactive TV and content delivered to mobile devices - Littleson keeps it in perspective by turning to his mother for an outside opinion. When asked what she thought about combining the Internet with the TV or a cell phone, she, like a great majority of consumers, immediately pictured surfing the TV, watching the computer or punching Web addresses into a cell phone's tiny number pad.

"It is not about URLs and surfing, it is about mobility and what services will apply," Littleson said.

In The 1999 Psychographic and Demographic Profile of Wireless Users, Cahners In-Stat Group identified four key types of consumers.

Information junkies or business users:

- High usage at home equals a good market to hit up for wireless Internet and data services.

Family of the future:

- With a high adoption rate of computers and other high-tech toys, this group is the one to most likely purchase a new wireless phone in 2000.

Mature, moneyed and middle aged:

- Between 1998 and 1999, this group did not make many technological changes. These users tend to stick with a carrier based mostly on price and will flee if the sales strategies are not proactive enough.

Primetime family:

- They may be the least likely to own a computer but this group has the highest number of 20- to 36-inch televisions. They are motivated more by price and ease-of-use of wireless services as opposed to service quality and a lot of features.

Source: Cahners In-Stat Group