Events

Events: Gartner Wireless summit in April: cut-price registration available

Gartner says it has already started to receive bookings for Wireless and Mobile Summit 2005. Special offer: "Register before 4 March and you will also save €300 on the standard conference fee," it says.

The dates: April 18-19: the venue is the Royal Lancaster Hotel, just off Hyde Park in London.

Keynote speakers are Peter Cochrane (Entrepreneur and Futurist) and Professor Jo Groebel, Director-General, European Institute for the Media. Other speakers include 11 Gartner research stars, like Ian Keene and Nick Jones.

In the overview, Nick Jones (research VP at Gartner) summarises: "Wireless isn't a technology, it's an indispensable business tool."

Wireless (the overview continues) will reduce costs, drive revenue, and enable new business opportunities. Mobile workforce projects will be a priority for enterprises in 2005, and by 2010 80 percent of critical processes will use real time mobile data. Business leaders must understand and exploit mobility, and the CIO must deliver systems that satisfy their functional and financial expectations. Gartner's summit will analyse vertical application opportunities, return on investment, and the ways in which mobility will transform corporations.

"The CIO's biggest worries are security and manageability. Is WiFi safe? When will handset viruses strike? What happens when a gigabyte of data on a phone is stolen? What policies do we need? Gartner will identify the vendors, technologies and processes to make your devices and networks secure." And, they claim, "we'll also show you how to get the best deals from network operators."

Conflict lies ahead, says Jones: "By 2007 corporations will use at least five separate wireless standards. Fierce battles will be fought between platforms such as Microsoft, RIM and Symbian, and technologies such as WiFi, WiMax and UMTS. We will cut through the hype to predict the winning technologies and the vendors to trust and avoid. We'll also look forward to some of the exciting new wireless technologies that will arrive in the next decade."

Registration http://www.registration.cc/wm05 here.