To business users PDAs probably need no defending, yet to others they're still an innovation. Guests at a "talk-in" hosted by Xcellenet considered just how far the PDA had come in terms of acceptance, and Peter Rowlands was there

To anyone involved in mobile computing, there's really no case to answer. A PDA (personal digital assistant) is now one of a recognised armoury of options for achieving remote connectivity and computing power: something to be considered alongside laptop computers, mobile phones and various other possibilities. PDAs don't need justifying to IT professionals - they're out there in the market, and their presence speaks for itself.

Not so, apparently, in the wider business community, where some executives still see them as elaborate toys. Which is why Xcellenet, the mobile computing and integration specialist, hosted a "talk-in" on the subject earlier this year. Just how far had PDAs come along the road to business acceptability? A group of analysts and IT managers examined the reservations still evident in the market, and considered how quickly they were being overcome.

The good news - at least, to those who didn't even know there was an issue - is that PDAs are gaining acceptability fast. Tim Carter, UK sales director of Xcellenet, reckoned the market was much more mature than a year ago, and businesses were recognising the benefits of pilot exercises involving PDAs. The infrastructure to support them was more fully developed. And paradoxically, senior executives were often leading the way. "They want the new toys first," Carter said.

 

Jason Langridge, UK mobility business manager with Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Embedded Devices division, said that users in key markets such as field service were becoming particularly rapid adopters. "PDAs are popular in any time-based business sector such as the legal professional, where billing is done by the minute, and also in transport and logistics." He said the decision by TNT to deploy 24,000 devices running Windows Mobile was a prime example.

Battery life

The natural alternative to PDAs is laptop computers, and some of the speakers pointed out that recent technological developments meant that battery life on laptops was getting better, whilst PDA battery life it was getting worse. There was comment that life on Palm PDAs was better than with Windows Mobile.

Mark Boulding of consultancy Quocirca pointed out that Intel was building more and more functionality into the motherboards of laptops, enhancing their appeal. But Jason Langridge pointed out that laptop computers would probably continue to place relatively higher demands on power, since they incorporated power-hungry hard disk drives. "That makes a world of difference."

In any case, Mark Boulding commented: "PDA battery life really depends on how you use the device. If you switch it off when you don't need it, you can increase the life from one day to four. You can work it out for yourself."

Langridge agreed. What was critical with PDAs was to provide batteries that would last "either two days or a week." It was "a matter of education," he believed, adding that improving battery technology would gradually mean life between charges became less of an issue.

Nevertheless, Dwarkaprasad Chakravarty, a senior consultant with Atos KPMG Consulting, agreed that battery life with PDAs was currently still a significant issue. "And there's only limited capacity to hold data in non-volatile memory." He urged PDA users to explore the options for installing the maximum available NV RAM to avoid loss of data.

Ruggedised versus consumer

Microsoft has a very strong marketing advantage over Palm in that Windows Mobile is not tied in the same way to a relatively small group of specific manufacturers. Jason Langridge pointed out that there were 38 manufacturers building compatible hardware - "so 'PDA' can mean any of these."

Yad Jaura, product marketing manager for Xcellenet (and chairman of the event), reminded the group that previous, proprietary mobile computing solutions had proved much more expensive than modern PDAs. The advent of PDAs had opened up a new possibility, he said. "Spend less, buy consumer and replace if it goes wrong."

There followed a debate about the relative merits of ruggedised (but costly) handheld computers and standard (but more fragile) consumer versions. Jason Langridge of Microsoft had an interesting angle on this. "People treat devices with more respect if they look fragile," he believed, adding: "They also treat them better if they have a SIM [mobile phone memory card] of their own inside."

The attraction of allowing users to personalise PDAs could be an important factor in hastening their adoption, the group felt. A good example of this could be seen at Britannia Airways, where cabin crews had been issued with PDAs using iAnywhere integration software, and had been permitted to load their own applications and use them for personal information management, email and so on. Yad Jaura commented: "People tend to ask 'What's in it for me?' There's your answer."

Dwarkaprasad Chakravarty supported that view, recounting his experience in a National Health project. Staff had taken to PDAs "even when they had never used laptop PCs," he said. "They seemed to find them simple and user-friendly, and once they started using them, they didn't want to let them go."

He did comment that such users "only take advantage of a fraction of the full power of the equipment" - but that's a familiar complaint about desktop computing software too, and has not yet persuaded the suppliers to downgrade the product.

Risk

As mobile computing has come increasingly to prominence, one of the most controversial aspects has been the possible threat to data security. KPMG's Dwarkaprasad Chakravarty was quick to play down the problem. "GPRS is intrinsically secure," he said, "and Wi-Fi is secure if you use a proper Virtual Private Network to provide the fixed link." He said that in his experience the perceived security risk had not been a bar to acceptance.

One of the recent growth areas in PDA use has been among police forces, and the speakers considered whether they increased the security risk here. Microsoft's Jason Langridge contrasted the use of PDAs with previous practice, in which officers would record stop and search or scene of crime data on paper. "That's not encrypted at all," he pointed out.

He suggested it was necessary to do a risk assessment of the various options. "You need to decide if there's a proper level of security out of the box, or if you need to add more." In the case of police forces, he pointed out that on the plus side, using PDAs and electronic data capture meant there was a full audit trail, which had never been possible before.

Using wireless PDAs to access the Police National Computer also meant officers in the field could make informed decisions much more quickly. Response time for PNC checks could be reduced from four minutes to twenty seconds, it had been found.

Yad Jaura wondered if security issues were generally over-hyped, and Tim Carter tended to think they were. "A bag snatcher will probably not be an efficient hacker."

One way to lessen the security risk is to keep sensitive data stored centrally, and only use mobile units to access specific items when required. KPMG's Dwarkaprasad Chakravarty accepted that there would be no reason to hold data locally if there were pervasive data networks, but concluded: "We don't have this, so you can't get away from local storage."

That could present problems, though. Mark Boulding pointed out that some building societies were simply not prepared to allow mobile staff to hold sensitive data locally.

Microsoft's Langridge commented: "You have to cater for the disconnected scenario, providing both online and offline options. Many users start off working on a thin-client basis, holding all the data centrally, but then switch because they see that providing local data and processing power brings benefits by promoting local autonomy."

The speakers all looked forward to the day when it would be possible to link PDAs seamlessly with wireless networks, GPRS and local-area networks. It was starting to happen, they agreed, but problems of multiple billing by different suppliers remained.

Future developments

The big development in the past year, by common consent, was that businesses were no longer obsessed with worries about seeing a direct return on investment from mobile applications. As Mark Boulding of Quocirca pointed out: "The pressure to make the move to mobile is increasing."

Microsoft's Langridge admitted that ROI might not be evident if users limited their mobile aspirations to PIM software; but he said at least 87 per cent of businesses adopting mobile solutions last year were still using them today, and were seeing a return on investment.

Tim Carter added that in the next phase, organisations so far only using PDAs for PIM applications would be moving on to "phase two", in which they derived a wider range of operational and financial benefits.

Langridge held out the prospect of improvements in performance and much greater choice in terms of the kind of device available. Choices might include square display screens and roll-up screens.

The question left dangling was whether, in a year's time, there will be any need another discussion session on the business merits of PDAs, or whether these will have been subsumed by then in a wider drive to mobilise computing with a variety of devices from laptops to smartphones.