As 1999 draws to a close, evidence from analysts and customers suggests that the Web is going wireless. IBM is leading the charge with Pervasive Computing to establish wireless Internet services as a quick and natural extension of today's e-business, enabling high-street companies to do business with their customers anytime and anywhere.
IBM's Pervasive Computing Division has recently enabled two leading national banks to deliver a service that allows customers to perform a variety of personal banking tasks via new WAP-enabled mobile phones from Nokia and Ericsson. In addition, as a result of these projects, and in order to address the growing clamour for WAP-enabled services in Europe, IBM has constructed a new 'WAP SWAT' Team that is able get European customers started with WAP-based applications in just a matter of days.
"Although the Pervasive Computing market is relatively new to the world, we've seen demand for solutions in Western Europe almost outstrip the supply of skills and services necessary to put solutions together," said David McKenzie, Director of IBM's Pervasive Computing Division in EMEA. "The fact, for example, that IBM has already established itself as WAP partner of choice for a number of leading European companies means that we're now able to bring this knowledge and expertise to market in the most effective way. The introduction of our new European WAP SWAT team is a great example of IBM's dynamic approach to this new market."
IBM's Pervasive Computing Division has generated some momentum in the wireless space in the last few months, announcing:
A deal with Planet RX, one of the leading pharmacies on the Web, to extend its Web site to pervasive devices. Starting on 1st December, consumers will be able to go to PlanetRX.com and download to their Palm Pilot an application that IBM created, and use it to begin ordering products from Planet RX's web site anytime, anywhere. IBM provided the infrastructure hardware and software, including SP/2s and Netfinity servers, DB2, Websphere and new transcoding software that takes existing web data and translates it on the fly into a format that can be used on the Palm Pilot.
In October, Banesto, a leading Spanish bank, announced that in collaboration with IBM it is delivering banking services to mobile phones, enabling customers to conduct their core banking tasks anywhere and anytime. Banesto is the first Spanish bank to offer Internet banking services to customers via wireless devices. Banesto's partnership with IBM means customers will now be able to manage their personal account information and buy and sell stocks and shares via new WAP-enabled smart phones. Banesto's WAP solution was developed in record time by IBM's Pervasive SWAT Team, and will now allow the bank to extend its current PC-based Internet banking service to new customers and new applications. The service is available to customers today.
"Increased adoption of the Internet and on-line banking services has increased the ease with which our customers are able to manage their finances," Banesto said in a statement. "We are now delighted to extend this ease-of-use even further by giving customers the freedom to manage their accounts with mobile phones, whenever and wherever they need to."
Also in October, Handelsbanken, Sweden's leading bank, announced with IBM the world's first WAP-enabled banking service. The new service will allow the bank's customers to access stock information in different forms, account information, transfer money, buy and sell stocks and shares and even pay bills via standard WAP phones such as the new models from Nokia and Ericsson.
"As advances in technology and wireless communications are extending the Net to a new generation of portable devices, we want to deliver the kind of services that will allow our customers to make their life easier and more productive," said Lars O Grönstedt, executive vice president of Handelsbanken. "Thanks to pervasive computing technology and services from IBM, we can begin today to leverage the rapidly expanding delivery channel for WAP-enabled applications and use it to offer our customers more robust services."
At Telecom'99, IBM announced an agreement with Nokia to use its Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) software in its Pervasive Computing solutions. This announcement is significant -- not only because it partners IBM with a leader in the telecommunications industry - but because it allows IBM to meet the growing customer demand for WAP solutions, particularly in Europe where the wireless Web is taking off first. By combining Nokia's WAP software with IBM's own products and services, IBM will be able to help its customers quickly deploy networked applications and services that can be accessed over the Internet by a range of wireless devices, such as next generation mobile phones, PDAs, and pagers.
Also at Telecom'99, IBM, Ericsson and fellow Pervasive Computing leaders -- such as Lotus, Oracle, Palm Computing and Symbian - joined forces in the GPRS Applications Alliance (GAA), a cross-industry initiative designed to serve as a catalyst in the advancement of applications based on the new mobile packet switching technology, GPRS. GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) will enhance the quality of today's WAP services by extending wireless data bandwidth. GPRS introduces packet data to mobile networks and is a first, vital step for GSM and TDMA operators in the evolution to third generation mobile networks, enabling a new and enhanced services in a mobile environment.
All in all, in Q4 1999, Western European customers have seized the availability of Pervasive technology as a way of differentiating their service offerings and of maintaining closer relationships with their customers.
Recent analyst reports from IDC, Gartner and Yankee Group continue to affirm the growing demand for WAP-enabled Pervasive Computing solutions. The following statements echo the current momentum behind the Western European market:
Gartner Group has stated that "there is no question that wireless and the Web were meant for each other," and that the future of wireless computing lies with "standards-based initiatives aligned with and integrated in the development of the Internet."
IDC has stated that the worldwide market for Pervasive Computing applications is being driven primarily by Western Europe and Japan. Also, IDC estimates that Western Europe will account for 27% of total smartphone shipments in 1999, and that between 1999 and 2003 the compound annual growth rate for worldwide smart handheld device unit shipments will be 41.0% -- a figure which represents robust category growth across all classes of Pervasive computing devices. By 2003, IDC estimates that the total yearly number of shipments of smart handheld devices will be around 35 million.
In addition to unit shipments and market size, IDC has stated that smartphone users will be won over 'less by the operating system on their phone and more by the services available on it', and that 'providing compelling services is the next big hurdle' for the Pervasive Computing market
A recent Yankee Group survey established that 74.9% of all wireless phone users also access the Internet - indicating tremendous potential for growth of wireless Internet services
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