Answering the Mobile IT Call

SPEAKING ON A CELL PHONE from his Dallas hotel room on a wet Friday morning, Håkan Liedman, global CIO of Swedish telecommunications giant L.M. Ericsson, is still buzzing after one of the most provocative meetings of his 20-month tenure.

"We had a serious discussion here yesterday," he says. "Perhaps we won't need to have any traditional personal computers one and a half years from now. We wouldn't need them if all the information we want is accessible from our WAP [wireless application protocol] phones or PDAs or whatever. Hotel business centers, cybercafes and other public terminals could take care of the rest."

Ericsson may be on the cutting edge of what will undoubtedly be the biggest challenge for IT executives since the birth of the PC more than 20 years ago. Managing worldwide systems these days means providing 24/7 access to more than PCs and laptops. Users want and need access to e-mail and other services from their cell phones or any other communications device that suddenly becomes the rage. The infinitely increasing choice of end user devices and the accompanying demands for instant information are among CIOs' biggest challenges. This new frontier requires rethinking the structure of applications and the network.

Just ask Ericsson, which, as a leading handheld manufacturer, is feeling the pressure to provide cell phone access to global systems now. Until recently the company's IT enterprise was a confused collection of disparate systems mostly performing back-office roles. But Liedman is trying to transform that infrastructure into a cohesive network that helps drive business and showcases the company's new mobile Internet technologies.

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