Could Intermec spearhead push-to-talk revival?

'Push to talk', a concept that was expected to take the world by storm two or three years ago, has been brought back to prominence in the UK by the news that the technology has been incorporated in Intermec's CN3 handheld terminal. The arrangement is provided under a pan-EMEA partnership agreement struck by the company with wireless specialist Mobile Tornado.

Push to talk (or PTT) is something akin to the old-fashioned walk-talkie style of wireless technology, but is provided on suitable mobile phone devices working on GSM networks. One person speaks at a time, and says 'over' to transfer control to another - a system known as 'half duplex' mode.

Among attractions, the technology allows users to talk to more than one other person at a time, and the cost is not included in the basic mobile phone account. Instead, users pay a flat monthly fee per device. Also it is potentially a global system rather than one dependent on a local RF wireless transmitter - though its reach depends on network compatibility.

Orange launched a PTT service called TalkNow in the UK several years ago, but the other big networks have not rushed to set up UK services. Elsewhere in Europe, expansion has been patchy.

In North America, by contrast, PTT has become big business, and has been pushed especially by Sprint-Nextel. It is reported that that over 90 billion push-to-talk Connections were made there last year. Various suppliers support the technology, including Ericsson, Mobile Tornado, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sonim.

Intermec says its solution integrates seamlessly with new or existing mobile and back-office applications, and allows enterprise users to view field worker availability and broadcast information either to the entire mobile workforce or to selected members of it.