IBM talks openly on wireless data

IBM has announced an open wireless data networking initiative, with support from Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Intel and Cisco - but Microsoft is notably absent from the list.

IBM has announced an open wireless data networking initiative, with support from Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Intel and Cisco - but Microsoft is notably absent from the list.

The group plans to develop an open, scalable platform for wireless data services, a technology which analysts said is poised to explode. Big Blue's development efforts will be based on the Epoc operating system championed by the Symbian alliance.

The initiative raises further questions about Microsoft's independent wireless data strategy. The software giant has tried to form its own industry alliances to compete with Symbian and promote the Microsoft Mobile Explorer platform.

Mike Lawrie, general manager for IBM Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says more people will use wireless devices than PCs to access the Internet."Key players from the wireless, IT and telecoms industries need to create an open application development environment."

Jan Linvberg, a manager at IBM Global Services, said: "There is a need for open standards in the mobile Internet space. Microsoft is not part of the industry group driving open standards."

Dilip Mistry, wireless marketing manager at Microsoft Europe, said: "It is too early to discount us just yet. The industry is at the stage where everybody is talking with everybody else."

Mistry said that Microsoft was not threatened by the open source positioning of IBM's alliance. "There is a lot of confusion between open source, industry consortium and open standards," he said. The IBM grouping is "an industry consortium", he added. "We are totally committed to industry standards and fully support WAP."

In a report to be published next month, analyst Ovum predicts that the number of mobile devices able to access the Internet will exceed one billion by 2003. Dan Ridsdale, telecoms analyst at Ovum, said vendors are keen to have a slice of this market which is "in a land-grab scenario. But wireless Internet won't take off until applications and content are there."