Publication Date: August 30, 1996

Keeping In Touch: Part 2 - The Personal Data Assistant

[Back to Intro] [Part 1] [Part 3]

One alternative for companies seeking to move to wireless communications is the personal data assistant, or PDA. PDA is a generic name for a broad variety of hand-held devices that range in function from simple scheduling to paging to two-way communication. While many people in the industry consider PDAs little more than expensive toys – the devices range in price from $800 to $1,200 – they continue to evolve in design and sophistication. According to the Yankee Group, the number of industry-specific hand-held devices in use will rise from 250,000 in 1995 to 850,000 by the year 2000.

"Most people who work on the road take their laptops and try to duplicate their desktop environment while they are out on the road," observes John Fitzpatrick of Integra Technology International. "Often what they really need are more efficient applications that give them time-critical information on a timely basis. Instead of a laptop, what they really need is a sophisticated hand-held device. People want applications designed to provide them with just the most concise and important information sent to them on criteria based on a distinct set of business rules."

Those companies contemplating a move to PDAs will have to choose between building a private communications network or leasing space on an existing public network like Motorola's ARDIS. Formed in 1990, ARDIS boasts of being the nation's first and largest wireless two-way data communications network; it counts 60,000 users in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Carrying PDAs, mobile workers can use the ARDIS network to gain instant access to their office computers, eliminating the need for cellular phones. The Motorola system also offers e-mail and a wireless messaging system it calls RadioMail. It recently included a service permitting mobile workers to pull up text from Internet home pages on their mobile devices.

The PDA's primary virtue – size – is also its principal drawback. Most of the devices include a keyboard, but one so small as to make rapid typing impossible. They may be convenient, but they do not duplicate an office or laptop environment. "If you are constantly downloading large files all day and sending complicated e-mail messages, then you are probably better off working with that system," says Naomi Yeransian, manager of marketing communications at ARDIS. "But if you want more interactivity and a more streamlined operation, our network is probably a better solution."

Several manufacturers offer a hybrid PDA/cellular phone that is enabled for both voice and cellular digital packet data (CDPD) transmission. The size of a standard cellular phone, these devices offer a five-line screen at 25 characters per line, and can access e-mail messages, the Internet, or an intranet. Any document too large to scroll through can be downloaded to the nearest fax machine. The hybrid phones also function as pagers, and of course as telephones.

"The beauty of this service is that it is designed around the most ubiquitous communications device, that is, the cellular phone," says Tom Madsen, product manager of wireless Internet applications at Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile. His company is planning to offer a combined voice and CDPD transmission service for the fourth quarter of the current business year. "Right now, to keep in touch with your office, you have to carry a cellular phone, a pager, and a laptop with a modem and a cord. This device combines voice and data service in a way that we think is key to business efficiency."

[Back to Intro] [Part 1] [Part 3]

---