Silva I’ve been talking quite a bit about the Mobile Operations role lately, that sub role within the organization that Forrester defines as:

“A single coordinator for managing mobile networks internal
and external to the organization, managing device choice within the
organization, and ensuring those devices are secured and
managed.”

Well, it seems that there’s some thinking around creating core competency around mobile infrastructure going on at the IEEE as well. The Standards body announced earlier this month the formation of its Wireless Communication Engineering Technologies Certification Program.

Aside from acting as a tongue twister in a space already dominated by too many acronyms, the program seeks to enhance skills around elements of wireless and mobile infrastructure; among them:

  • RF engineering — better ability to vet appropriateness of architectural approaches 
  • Propagation and antennas — of increasing importance in an 802.11n world 
  • Access technologies — it would be great to see this extend to secure access tools 
  • Network and service architecture — how do I run video, voice, data, and location on one network? 

Will you invest in your employees’ pursuit of such a certification? Stay tuned for more research on this subject coming in April 2008.

By Chris Silva

Check out Chris’ research