Alcatel-Lucent On The Mobility FrontAlcatel-Lucent On The Mobility Front

The company unveils a tablet/smartphone client, as it continues to work the DECT market as well.

I spent a few days last week at the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALUE) Analyst Conference in Annapolis. As is my habit, I was focused on what they had to say about mobility. ALUE has as much as almost anyone and more than some, but their challenge will be to work the pieces into a cohesive whole.

The keystone is the attractive OpenTouch Conversation client for iPad, Android and BlackBerry; an iPhone version is due out later this year. The interface borrows from the Avaya Flare Experience, but with a look-and-feel that is unique to ALUE.

Of all the mobile UC clients I've reviewed, I would rank the ALUE and Avaya tablet implementations among the best. Both incorporate touch and swipe features that are characteristic of tablet devices, but the two go in different directions--literally.

Where Avaya's apps and contacts swipe vertically on the left and right sides of the screen, ALUE's are arranged horizontally. In either case you can drag one or more contact cards into an area (Avaya calls it a "spotlight" and ALUE calls it a "stage"), and then click an icon to initiate a text or email or place an audio or video call. In either case they have to operate within the boundaries of the tablet environment. This means that there is no traditional cellular voice capability, so the tablet has to operate on either Wi-Fi or a 3G/4G cellular data service.

My favorite feature of the ALUE interface is the "conversation wall" displayed in the center of the screen that allows you to swipe left to view all of your past conversations or right to view scheduled meetings or conferences. Clearly a lot of thought went into the design of the user experience.

The good (or "bad") news is that ALUE also offers a line of DECT and IP-DECT devices for in-building (or "on campus") mobile voice. DECT has enjoyed far greater adoption in Europe, but in any case it offers several key advantages over Wi-Fi voice. In particular, it requires fewer base stations, provides better battery life and sound security, no concerns over QoS--and it costs a lot less.

The downside is that DECT is essentially a voice technology; data is typically limited to low-volume applications like texting. Further, DECT is not supported on any tablets or smartphones. So while you can get cheap and reliable on-campus voice, it is essentially a "wireless 2500-set." Of course, you can also say that about the purpose-built voice over Wi-Fi handsets like those from Cisco, SpectraLink (formerly part of Polycom) and Ascom. It's embarrassing, but we didn't start getting functional mobile devices for Wi-Fi until the smartphone and tablet manufacturers (read: consumer device manufacturers) decided to incorporate the interface!

This leaves ALUE in a rather awkward spot, as they have one strong wireless offering that depends on Wi-Fi and 3G/4G cellular data and a second that works on a completely incompatible DECT interface. Such is the fate of those who build their software for devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets) whose communications interfaces were chosen for their relevance in the consumer market.

While I cannot envision anyone building a consumer device (except a cordless phone) incorporating DECT, I assume ALUE does have the resources to bring DECT to a wider range of devices if it chooses to do so. An iOS device is off the table, but DECT on an Android is certainly a possibility. The data limitations of DECT would still be there, but there are lots of productivity-enhancing functions that can be supported on the relatively low data rates DECT can deliver.

The problem that ALUE and all of the other UC&C vendors face is that there are no real "enterprise mobile devices" being produced in volume by companies like Samsung, Motorola, HTC or others. Well, there are, but they're essentially bar code readers and mobile computers running Windows Mobile! When it comes to building UC capabilities to run on what are essentially "consumer-oriented" mobile devices, the moral of the story is that you've got to play the hand you're dealt--unless you step up and deal your own hand.

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