A real-time enterprise delivers up-to-date information to decision makers at all levels, allowing them to gauge risks and opportunities as they unfold and helping the organization to compete in a 24x7 world. Consequently, organizations are investing in initiatives that support transition to a real-time enterprise. These efforts focus on:

• faster exploitation of emerging opportunities
• reducing damage when things do go wrong
• increased agility when dealing with threats and changes
• compressing the time needed to put a solution into effect

Mobility is a key aspect of transitioning to a real-time enterprise. In addition to reducing waste and increasing efficiency, a real-time enterprise with converged mobility can offer more competitive customer service. No longer bound by location, the best person to address an issue can immediately ­ in real time ­ interface with a customer or support the customer service representative. And the ability to collect data directly into an application, regardless of physical location, can reduce costs by reducing or eliminating paperwork, while improving customer satisfaction by diminishing mistakes and improving information quality.

Converged mobility can deliver direct cost savings. In new locations, a business can significantly reduce the amount of cabling that must be run to serve all potential users. It¹s easier to make moves, adds and changes, which speeds up the process of changing office layouts and requires fewer personnel to complete the task.

These drivers are changing the way we work. Converged mobility can allow a staff member to take instantly accessible notes during meetings, to communicate with others during meetings without disrupting the meeting, to access information directly without having to call a colleague to retrieve it, and to have access to critical information while in a meeting ­ thus keeping meetings shorter and more productive. In addition, converged mobility supports and enables collaboration, which then becomes a forum for rapid decision-making.

The demands on converged mobility, then, require that individuals must be able to access company information in real-time, from any location ­ corporate headquarters, branch offices and outside the office. A number of elements are key to accomplishing this requirement:

• A real-time wireless infrastructure
• 
  A variety of converged terminals designed for the needs of a range of mobile workers
• 
  Applications to deliver voice and information to real-time enterprise users

To meet these requirements NEC introduces its converged mobility solution. This solution enables mobile terminals to deliver the anywhere, anytime communications required by the real-time enterprise. This solution, based on 802.11, incorporates wireless switches with integrated system management, access points and a range of planned mobile terminals.