PAST MEETINGS

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2001

Topic:	Wireless Data Communication Devices
Hostess:	Judy L. Pritzker Silverstein and Mullens, a division of Buchanan Ingersoll, PC 1776 K Street, NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 452-7900 pritzkerjl@silmul.bipc.com
Presenters:	Judy and Kathy Valentine, Covington & Burling

Here is a link to Judy’s PowerPoint presentation on Wireless Data Communication (a part of 2001.zip). This file can also be found on the WTF Downloads page.

In addition to the formal presentation, Judy and Kathy had a number of hand-held devices available for participants to examine. These included the RIM Blackberry, the Color Pocket PC, and HP's Jornada.

The discussion included:

Pricing for the various units themselves and the cost of airtime
Service coverage range
Popular accessories and software additions
Battery life
Durability (hint: they don't swim well!)
Frequently asked questions - from the diverse perspectives of users, CFO's, techs and network administrators
...and the quality of life once you have one.

Cathy Angus from Sidley Austin Brown & Wood had the following observation to add:

"One thing I discovered recently is that our former Brown &Wood users have RIM devices (Blackberry's) that don't actually use the Blackberry service. Instead, they are using e-Motient for sending and receiving e-mails. Recently I called e-Motient for technical support and their representative seemed surprised that a law firm was using the e-Motient service and explained that it does not have the same level of encryption as Blackberry. He informed me that most law firms don't use e-Motient for this reason as there is a higher likelihood of e-mails being intercepted and read.

Just so you know, the firm has made the decision to purchase the Blackberry Enterprise Edition so all attorneys using Blackberry's will be switching to Blackberry's service.

In case it comes up, the big difference between Palms and Blackberrys is that Blackberrys are not capable of reading e-mail attachments. This changed recently when a third-party created the "Itrezzo" software for the Blackberrys which now can read e-mail attachments. There is a catch, however. On the Palms, the e-mails are sent with their attachments and translated right on the Palm for reading. On the Blackberrys, the e-mail is sent to the Blackberry with the attachment. Then the user has to send just the attachment to an "Itrezzo Agent" who converts the attachment to something legible for the Blackberry and then e-mails it back to the user. Obviously, this presents a small delay and can cause problems if you are out of a wireless zone when sending or receiving the attachment.

I think the gap between wireless devices has grown much smaller and most users are now only considering what their personal taste would dictate. Of course, Blackberry is the only true wireless device that doesn't need an antenna turned on to send and receive. The Palms have an antenna that have to be extended before they can be used as wireless devices. I'm not familiar with Jornada's, Casiopeia's, etc. So there may be more information out there about those devices. Our firm will only be supporting Palms and Blackberrys (at least for now!!!)"

Cathy Angus
Training Manager
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood
1501 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
202-736-8203
cangus@sidley.com