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To: Harvey Rosenkrantz who wrote (24612)	3/22/1999 9:01:00 AM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Server software key to Microsoft wireless plans By Corey Grice Staff Writer, CNET News.com March 22, 1999, 4:00 a.m. PT Is the wireless world ready for Redmond? WirelessKnowledge, the wireless communications joint venture between Microsoft and Qualcomm, isn't promising the Internet unplugged just yet, but the company is easing into the market by ensuring that business customers don't stray far from Microsoft's products. Because there's currently little demand for data transmitted by wireless devices, WirelessKnowledge is focusing on the tools business customers use most frequently: email, calendars, shared databases, and "to-do" lists, according to company executives. Its first service offering--called Revolv--primarily touts Microsoft's Exchange-based groupware products, which many customers already access using the Outlook client application on their desktop PCs. In other words, WirelessKnowledge seeks to deliver the software giant's products to business customers using Qualcomm-powered devices. The alliance, formed last November, is another example of Microsoft's expanding focus on bandwidth, and could offer the company another proving ground to show that its software is capable of handling high-end, heavy-volume business applications. Although the wireless communications industry is touting the virtues of surfing the Internet at high-speeds, transferring files, and eventually video-conferencing without wires, the standards necessary for T1-like speeds are still years away, according to some. Most current hand-held wireless technologies struggle to deliver data even at speeds of 28.8 kbps (kilobits per second). "Third-generation" standards capable of delivering data at more than 1 mbps (megabits per second) are expected in 2000 or 2001, but until then speed bumps will limit the kinds of services carriers can deliver. "It takes very little bandwidth to tell you your meeting has changed," said WirelessKnowledge chief executive John Major at a recent industry conference. WirelessKnowledge vows to support many different technologies in the future. But the venture may have other goals. Microsoft has had trouble penetrating the lucrative telecommunications industry, long dominated by Unix-based operating systems. Now the company hopes it can use the base of customers it already has for its Exchange server to its advantage in its first attempt at entering with wireless communications world. "All their big new initiatives are server-based," said Pete Peterson, a wireless analyst at Volpe Brown Whelan. "They need the end users to have services and reasons that make them want to access a Microsoft server." And at the root of Microsoft's Exchange push is an underlying effort to boost its corporate Windows NT operating system--to be called Windows 2000 in an upcoming upgrade. A go between WirelessKnowledge will act as a middleman between wireless carriers and customers' mobile devices, be they smart phones, handheld computers, two-way pagers or anything else. The promise of WirelessKnowledge is that customers--regardless of what type of mobile device or which wireless carrier they use--can receive their corporate information remotely. The carrier partners--including AirTouch Communications, AT&T Wireless Services, Bell Atlantic Mobile, Bell Mobility, BellSouth, GTE Wireless, Sprint PCS, and US West Wireless--will market and sell the co-branded WirelessKnowledge service. WirelessKnowledge will customize data to ensure that the information is formatted appropriately for each device. For example, on a two-way pager, emails might only show the subject heading. However, on a personal digital assistant (PDA) such as a Windows CE-based device or a PalmPilot, which have larger viewable screens, the full email may be read. The same is true for phones and pagers.