WORKING OUTSIDE THE OFFICE IS GETTING EASIER

28 August 2001

Say goodbye to those extension cords.

A recent survey by Cutter Consortium, conducted for its Business Technology Trends and Impacts Practice, shows that the number of wireless laptops supplied to mobile workers (workers who are trying to access corporate information away from a physical corporate location) will triple to 100% in just two years.

Growth in use of wired and wireless laptops

        Laptop with wired connection   Laptop without wired connection
2001            90%                                     36%
2002            92%                                     75%
2003            94%                                    100%
[Source: Cutter Consortium]

"Wireless laptops appear to be the device of choice for mobile professionals," says Cutter Consortium Research Analyst David Gijsbers. "They offer all the benefits of a traditional laptop with the added advantage of not having to search for a connection port -- which are often unavailable in airports and slower than desirable in hotels. The expected growth of these devices is in parallel with the increase in geographical wireless coverage."

The numbers for personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones are strong, but behind those for wireless laptops. E-mail pagers showed the slowest growth.

"Obviously, e-mail pagers are not as powerful a tool as laptops," says Gijsbers. "Pager use will increase from 42% this year to 57% in 2002, and reaching just 62% in 2003. Pagers only offer the benefit of alerting the user when information is being updated and the lack of other functions is shown by the slower growth."

Growth in use of PDAs and cell phones with remote access

        PDAs with remote access         Cell phones with remote access
2001            33%                             54%
2002            69%                             76%
2003            89%                             94%
[Source: Cutter Consortium]

As for why companies are waiting up to two years to implement these new technologies, more than two-thirds of respondents said it was because they were sure the technology would improve.

What is holding your company back from investing in new mobile devices?

Technology likely to improve in the near future     64%
Cost of devices                                     56%
Security                                            48%
Instability in the market                           36%
Other                                               20%
[Source: Cutter Consortium]

50 IT/IS Managers took part in the Cutter Consortium survey.

--Cutter Consortium

[These statistics were taken from Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends and Impacts Practice. For more information, please contact Dennis Crowley at +1 781 641 5125 or +1 800 964 5125 or e-mail dcrowley@cutter.com or visit http://www.cutter.com/consortium/index_trends.html.]