Ericsson unveils WAP technology for mobile workers

Mobile phone vendor, Ericsson, has unveiled an application for wireless application protocol (WAP) phones that enables mobile workers to access information on their business's corporate directories.

It was one of many WAP product announcements made at this year's CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany, and highlighted the potential for consumer-driven WAP applications in the enterprise sector.

Ericsson's product allows users of the company's Dynamic Network Administration (DNA) suite to access their personal and corporate directories via their mobile phones. Users can also change their communications profile; it allows workers to automatically direct calls to different locations; and allows users to view and delete short text messages.

Sandra Fowler, product marketing manager at Ericsson, said the technology is intended to provide a single point of access to corporate information for mobile executives. She added: "We want to provide support for the mobile workforce - this is our direction."

Alan Pyne, senior consultant at telecoms analysts Schema, said Ericsson's initiative was a fairly conservative beginning, but added that it was highly significant. "It's important for Ericsson to show it is at the vanguard of WAP technology, so when third generation (3G) phones arrive it is well-positioned to take advantage of the market," he said.

Pyne argued the real business applications of WAP technology will become evident with the introduction of 3G mobiles, which take advantage of much higher bandwidth.

Other WAP announcements at CeBIT came from Motorola and Nokia, while IBM announced a partnership with Symbian to develop applications for WAP devices, and car firm Skoda said it is piloting Seagull's WAP solutions to give its mobile workers access to all of its back-office information while on the move.

In the UK, retail bank Halifax said it has signed a deal with BT Cellnet to offer customers WAP-based mobile banking.

Ericsson's product is still undergoing further development and no release date has been announced.