Blend, Link, Sync, Find

Lost in the recent frenzy over the (pending) mammoth melding of AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, and the speculation about how difficult it will be to combine the two companies' various network facilities and back office systems, is the fact that the rollup does not represent the biggest integration challenge in the wireless industry. That transaction made headlines because of its size and price tag, and if it is consummated, the combined entity will indeed claim the title of largest U.S. wireless service provider (for now, anyway). But while it progresses, the company that currently bears that distinction is in the final stages of completing an even more taxing back office assimilation project.

As Senior Editor Tim McElligott explains in this issue's cover story, which begins on page 32, Verizon Wireless as we now know it resulted from acquisitions of, and assets purchases from, at least eight other mobile carriers. That reality, played out over time, can be easily overshadowed by a $41 billion price for a single transaction — but the fact is that rolling up that many disparate assets requires an even more massive integration project involving critical decisions about operations support systems, billing and customer care. Tim's article tells the inside story of how Roger Gurnani, chief information officer of Verizon Wireless, went about creating that back office amalgam.

The story is a good representation of the current state of this industry. Even as the wireless sector emerges from a prolonged economic downturn, carriers remain focused on streamlining and operating more efficiently. Nowhere is that goal more applicable than when a back office is the virtual equivalent of a tangle of wires and redundant boxes left over from various purchases.

Other components of this month's issue highlight some of the ways wireless carriers can introduce new applications and functionality as they continue to improve the efficiency of their operations. On page 16 Chief Correspondent Dan O'Shea looks at Wireless2Web's unique approach to delivering mobile messages via hyperlinks. On page 22 Web Editor Jason Ankeny explores how apps developer Vindigo is expanding its place on the mobile map. And on page 28 Staff Writer Kevin Fitchard profiles PDA synchronization leader Intellisync and its attempts to extend its reach into the service provider sector and a wider range of devices.

The most enormous deals with the largest price tags tend to make the biggest splashes and get the huge headlines. But it's the quiet, intense integration work that takes place in carriers' back offices and the creation occurring in inventors' back rooms that makes the wireless industry truly innovative.