November 2002

Mobile computing is now well and truly part of the IT mainstream. That's the message being promoted by Microsoft under an initiative it announced this summer and kicked off in earnest in November.

It's been given the umbrella name Microsoft Mobile Workplace, and covers a range of technologies, standards and partnerships with other organisations in the mobile computing market.

A key to the drive is the relationships Microsoft has formed with organisations such as Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and HP Services. With them, it will be offering expert consulting and implementation, and is holding out the prospect of reducing the cost and complexity in setting up mobile networks.

The company has also announced relationships with systems integration partners across Europe, including Winlinx in Germany; ExpandIT in Denmark; WM Data in Sweden; Fujitsu Services and ComputaCenter in the UK; and BizzDev and Econocom in France.

 

These companies are now delivering solutions in fields such as messaging, customer relationship management, sales force automation, enterprise resource planning and a range of line-of-business vertical applications.

Microsoft is linking the drive with the recent launch of its Smartphone mobile phone technology, and with its Windows CE and Pocket PC operating systems.

• As a taster to the kind of benefits on offer, Microsoft says a programme mounted by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has enabled lift-truck manufacturer BT Industries to reduce costs by 2.5 million euros a year, as well as improving field service productivity. It has adopted a Microsoft .NET solution that equips 1,400 BT technicians across 11 European countries with Windows Powered Pocket PCs.