Look no further than the average businessperson’s briefcase and you’ll see a glimpse of the future. At minimum they have a laptop and a cell phone. Chances are they’ll also have a Blackberry, smartphone, UMPC, tablet PC, or some combination of these devices. And as all these mobile tools converge, they’ll only become more vital to business.
This progress will be aided by further buildout of wireless infrastructure both in the U.S. and abroad. Technologies like WiMAX will enable mobile workers to run data-intensive corporate applications over wireless networks with performance virtually indistinguishable from wired connections.
A fully equipped, fully enabled mobile workforce will present some big challenges for IT, of course. Here are a few of the issues we’ll have to deal with while the technology catches up with our vision.
Infrastructure. As noted above, connectivity will play a major part in bringing mobile devices fully under the corporate umbrella. Developments like Wi-Fi hot spots on airplanes will extend the mobile network to (literally) new heights.
Software. We’re getting there, but we’re not there yet: in the future, look for software that fully and seamlessly integrates different applications. Imagine, for example, a device that can take a snapshot of a whiteboard and instantly send that image to a user’s PC. Or a device that could record a presentation video and then convert it into a text transcript.
Security. The more vital mobile devices become to the average worker, the less sense it makes to have sensitive corporate data stored on equipment that’s so vulnerable to theft, loss, and physical damage. Encryption technology won’t be enough. We’ll need fully mobile clients with no local storage, that can easily and securely connect back into the data center.
Along with virtualization, mobility is one of the big trends we’re watching here at ClearCube. But we’re not just watching — through partnerships with innovators like Motion Computing (PDF) and Enovate IT (PDF), we’re leading the way.
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