Check out the portion at the end....PCS requires the company to buy a server.
usatoday.com
Sprint PCS offers high-speed Wireless Web
By Shawn Young, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Sprint PCs unveiled an aggressive push to win corporate customers Wednesday with a new wireless Web service that features full access to corporate data at speeds comparable to most PC modems.
The wireless unit of Sprint, which has been a trendsetter in wireless Internet offers for consumers, is now taking on rivals such as Nextel and AT&T Wireless in the high-end business market.
Sprint's new service offers business travelers up-to-the-minute access to e-mail, calendars and secure corporate databases on Web-enabled cell phones. It also lets customers connect the phones to their laptop modems.
The service potentially puts an end to several infuriating rituals of work travel: Fiddling with local Internet access numbers; maintaining separate e-mail addresses for communications on the road; and searching in vain for available data hookups in airports.
So far, the slow speed, cost and awkwardness of wireless Web connections have kept the service from growing.
Sprint's offer represents significant progress, says Mark Lowenstein of consulting firm Yankee Group. By boosting the speed so that it keeps up with a 56 kilobits-per-second modem, Sprint has made the wireless Web less of a compromise and more of a helpful tool that people can use in familiar ways, he says. Sprint uses technology that compresses files to help move data faster.
"For the next six months they'll clearly have an edge over Nextel and AT&T, but it's a short window of opportunity" because rivals are likely to respond quickly, Lowenstein says.
AT&T and Nextel both offer e-mail and other data services designed for corporate users.
Charles Levine, Sprint's chief marketing officer, says Sprint hopes to centralize the way companies order wireless services. Many companies let employees pick any wireless service and write off the expenses.
The result is that many companies don't know how much they're spending on wireless. Many pay too much because employees don't always have an incentive to pick the most economical plans for their needs. Providing technical support when employees are using countless phones and systems is daunting at best, Levine says.
With Sprint's system, which requires the company to buy a server, companies can pick from a variety of billing options that include giant packages of communal minutes. |
