WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), the de facto standard for data access by digital phones and wireless PDAs, provides an end-to-end protocol for connecting WML (Wireless Markup Language) sites with WAP-based devices. Microsoft is a member of the WAP Forum (www.wapforum. org), and Lotus is partnering with one of the WAP Forum founding companies, Phone.Com. In addition, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the WAP Forum are devising ways to cooperate, but don't look for any standards-based mobile-access protocols soon. In the meantime, WAP and WML are in production.

Every DCN (digital cellular network) in the world has data capabilities. European DCNs frequently use their data component for sending and receiving short messages. Until recently, many U.S. DCNs have been content to concentrate on the revenue market represented by voice traffic. Cellular networks are expensive to set up, and voice traffic has given these companies the best, fastest return on investment.

The data part of these networks is now starting to make its presence felt. In September, Sprint PCS joined the previously activated AT&T data network by lighting up its network's data component for wireless Web access. Phones and handhelds with built-in, WAP-based "mini-browsers" let you access the Internet over an encrypted link by pressing a button.

The question is, who would want to browse the Internet using a seven-line display? The answer is nobody--unless the site is specifically designed for a wireless access device. Sprint identified more than 40 WML sites when it activated the new service. These sites include CNN Mobile for news, weather.com from the Weather Channel, GetThere.com for flight statuses and schedules, Bloomberg.com for financial and stock information, InfoSpace.com for Internet directory access, and MapQuest.com for driving directions. The content is usable even on the small screen of a digital phone because the information is presented in such a concise way.

The IMCS vendors will make it possible for you to provide this same type of targeted service to your users through the IMCS/ mobile development tools and gateways they will be providing during the coming year.

Lotus is ahead of the game where mobile services are concerned. In April 1998, Lotus released version 2.02 of the Lotus Pager Gateway. New to this release was Wireless Domino Access, which gave Internet-ready digital cellular phone users access to their mail store, calendar and address book. Lotus announced the details of its next-generation wireless product, Mobile Services for Domino (MSD) version 1.0, at Lotusphere Berlin. Version 2.0 of MSD will include server-based synchronization for Windows CE devices and PalmPilots. Also, a new application-development suite for mobile devices will ship with MSD 2.0.

Novell has partnered with Syclo Corp. to provide WAP-based access to the GroupWise message store via software based on its Agentry wireless toolkit. Syclo Information Manager 2.0 for GroupWise is available directly from Syclo. And Novell intends to market this product directly when it moves to the new component-based model for GroupWise next year.

Microsoft's new mantra surrounding Exchange 2000 is access to information anywhere, anytime and on any device. This slogan should bode well for wireless users, but Microsoft finds itself in a quandary. In May 1999, Microsoft announced that it had joined the WAP Forum. At the Microsoft Exchange Conference in October, mobile access to Exchange 2000's Web Store was demonstrated using a WAP-based phone. Still, Microsoft is hedging its bets where WAP is concerned, instead pointing to W3C and Internet standards as the avenue it is really interested in following. When pushed, Microsoft admitted that it intends to support all handhelds, including WAP-based devices, in the Exchange 2000 time frame, which is good because the W3C standards for wireless devices are still in the discussion phase and a long way from implementation. Besides those generalizations, Microsoft was unable to supply any additional information.