Ride, mobile, ride

USPS recently deployed about 10,000BlackBerry handhelds running commercial andhomegrown applications. Operations emloyeesand information technology staff are using mostof them, said Rick Zambrano, sales center vicepresident at AT&T Government Solutions."The reason they started to deploy with theiroperations and IT teams is because it's all abouttrying to get more productivity and to be quickerto respond," Zambrano said.USPS' situation might be unique among federalagencies, but its move to mobile applications isnot. Developing mobile applications, deployingmobile devices, and creating and maintaining theinfrastructures to support them promises to beone of the biggest growth areas for systems integratorsand technology companies for years tocome, said John Slye, principal analyst at themarket research firm Input."The whole mobility market, if you includewireless communications, messaging and mobilecomputing, is just huge," Slye said. "Enterprisemobility ? the ability to communicate withmobile devices and use installed applications ?could be about $70 million to $75 million a yearjust in the federal market."That doesn't include mobile, tactical radios thatare becoming more like small computers with theability to send and receive voice communicationsand data. Mobile radio programs for the DefenseDepartment ? in addition to first responders anddisaster management agencies ? show up in severalplaces in the current federal budget, Slye said.A request for proposals for the Land MobileRadio program administered by the GeneralServices Administration, for example, is expectedto be released in June and have a value of$5 billion. The radios will be designed for publicsafety officials and homeland security missions.A Federal Emergency Management AgencyRFP for wireless telecommunications worth$75 million is also expected to be released in June.Those contracts demonstrate federal agencies'desire to make mobile workers as connected andproductive as possible, Slye said.As FEMA's telecommunications contract shows,much of the new mobility business will be forservices."There [are these] installed wireless networks,so why construct a network for your first responderswhen you can buy that service?" Slye asked."Agencies do not want to deal with the infrastructurecosts if they don't have to."Once agencies have access to wireless networks,their employees will need devices toaccess those networks. That could beBlackBerrys, Windows mobile devices or otherhandheld computers."You're going to see more wireless devices usedfor more applications, and you're also going tosee the devices themselves grow in complexityand ability," Slye said.At first, most contract activity will focus onfirst responders and combat operations. Butsoon, that will expand to areas such as logisticsand inspections.Back-end systems will also need to keep pacewith the ever-growing mobile workforce. Serviceorientedarchitecture projects that consolidateolder systems and connect them to new mobilityenabledsystems will be a growing area of business."Keeping infrastructures operating andrefreshed will be key," Slye said. "You have to havea backbone that's going to support the jazzyhandset you put out in the field because, ultimately,it has to operate as one network."At USPS, for example, IT staff members haveBMC Software Inc.'s Remedy ServiceManagement application running on theirBlackBerrys. It lets them respond to and track ITsystem problems.With Remedy, IT employees can respond tohelp requests, approve trouble tickets andprocess them through the system more quickly."Another thing they're using is homegrown,and it ties into their procurement system,"Zambrano said. "It allows managers to quicklyprocess purchase orders that come through thesystem. It's all about being more responsive andturning things around faster."Most of USPS' workforce is mobile, with manyemployees working in huge plants nationwide.The service has more than 800,000 employees,so the market potential for mobile applications, devices and networks is huge."They started out with these two applications,but they're also thinking bigger now," Zambranosaid. "They are looking at other mobile applicationsthat they could potentially utilize with thesehandheld devices."One possibility is using the devices for videobasedtraining. Applications are available to sendvideo training sessions to employees' handhelds.They can watch the video and respond to a questionnaire,with the system tracking all the activity."We are in the very early stages of really whatthe full potential of these handhelds will be,"Zambrano said.One factor leading to the acceptance of mobiledevices and applications in the federal governmentis IT managers' growing confidence in thesecurity aspects, said Tyler Lessard, director ofthe alliances partner program at Research inMotion."The core product is still e-mail and [personalinformation manager] applications, and moreand more we see the addition of Web browsingfor access to internal networks and internalapplications that are Web-based," Lessard said.The ability of mobile devices and wireless networksto run Web-based applications will be asignificant factor in their proliferation. Most commerciallyavailable applications havea Web-based version. The ability toaccess those applications remotelyand from a variety of devices isattractive to government customers.Their use in continuity of operationsis one area that has alreadybeen successful in the mobile market.RIM has several partners thatfocus exclusively on solutions thatenable government customers tosend emergency alerts and documentsto users. During an emergency,the system would send alertsinstructing first responders what todo. Documents similar to an e-mailmessage could also be sent todescribe emergency procedures.For devices with Global Positioning Systemcapability, the custom alert could also be basedon where first responders are at the time of theincident. Those close to the scene might be toldto go there, while others might report to a commandcenter. Based on the GPS data, applicationscould also send directions and maps toshow where the user should go.Lessard expects to see continued growth in theareas of first response and public safety."In the area of law enforcement and publicsafety, we've seen a lot of rollouts of BlackBerryhandhelds that in some cases replace officers'laptops," he said. "In some cases, we see it complementinga laptop [PC] within the carand ... pushing down dispatch information.""It's something they can take with them so asthey leave their vehicle, they still have access tothat information," Lessard said. "And it also hasthe embedded GPS capabilities so it can bereporting back coordinates to a main office."Applications are available to let police officersquery motor vehicle records when they are awayfrom their cars' equipment. They can fill out customforms using handhelds that connect to commandcenter systems.Although handhelds are growing in popularityfor law enforcement, vehicle-mounted laptopPCs with access to a mobile network are still thenorm, said Girish Rishi, corporate vice presidentat Motorola Data Solutions.Much of the growth in that area centers oncomputer-aided dispatch (CAD) applications."With CAD, there is literally a work ticket thatis created and it is passed on to police, fire" andemergency medical services, he said. "Mobilizingthose computer-aided dispatch applications hasbeen going on for a while and continues to be anarea that governments are very interested in andwant to deploy."The systems are being used in other areas suchas public works, public health and sanitation.More-capable wireless networks increase thenumber of data fields that can be sent to vehiclemountedcomputers. Other features, such asstreaming video, are being added to the systems.With mobility technology's popularity growingin the consumer market, demand in the federalmarket is only going to get stronger, Slye said."People are used to having continuous mobileconnections to communications through thingslike BlackBerrys and home wireless networks,and they don't understand why first respondersdon't have the same thing when a disaster hits,"Slye said. "So there will be that continued pressuretowards making that a reality."