The State Of Mobile Infrastructure: 2008

Mobility is a priority for the majority of enterprises today. Whether formalizing and executing a mobile strategy, providing more mobility support to employees, or implementing a solution to ensure seamless coverage across multiple networks, enterprises are making mobile infrastructure investments. While in-house wireless LAN (WLAN) networks continue to reign supreme, enterprises are now looking to supplement WLAN coverage with public Wi-Fi and public cellular networks, especially with WiMAX services on the horizon. Why the sudden interest in mobility investments? Because today's enterprises must cater to a changing workforce — that grew up entrenched in a mobile lifestyle — and ratchet up productivity by providing access to business-critical apps for employees on the go. As an IT ops exec preparing to make investments in mobile infrastructure, you should articulate a clear understanding of your organization's plans for current and future networks, work with project management and architecture teams to understand bandwidth needs, and have realistic estimates of mobile application demands.