Notebooks with integrated high speed 3G/EDGE/GPRS mobile connectivity are set to become a feature of the technology landscape in the next few months but opinion is divided as to whether they will be attractive to small businesses in the short term.
Lenovo was one of the first computer manufacturers to announce notebooks with integrated mobile connectivity that will allow customers to have real-time access to the Vodafone 3G network without using an external data card but the Thinkpad models are not expected to be available until the beginning of April.
Dell has also joined the fray by announcing plans to launch embedded Vodafone HSDPA access for notebooks in France, Germany and the UK in the first half of the year.
HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) is an upgrade to existing European 3G networks that is expected to increase download speeds by up to four times.
But while Lenovo was bullish about the suitability of such laptops for smaller businesses, others are not so sure.
Howard C. Dulany, wireless marketing, Lenovo, claimed they would “provide significant new benefits and alternatives for small business customers”. Real-time access to “important company and customer data from anywhere the Vodafone network is available, smaller businesses can provide their customers a new level of service equivalent to a larger business”
But Kevin Nolan, PSG category manager at HP, said that although it had plans to introduce an enterprise laptop with the technology, the initial rollout would be focused on large enterprises.
“It’s not to say some small businesses wouldn’t want to upgrade to the product,” he commented, but he did not anticipate specific products to be targeted at them until early 2007.
Nolan also questioned the speed with which Dell and Lenovo were introducing their products – HP isn’t planning to release its products until September. “Although they are racing to market, our position is that it’s still evolving from a network technology point of view. There are questions around the ability to roam across various different bands, for example.
The rollout of HSDPA will become more intense in the second half of the year but widescale availability is not expected until well into 2007.
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