Hyperconnectivity is the new reality

Peter Shankman, founder of the free helpareporterout.com internet service for connecting journalists, is a self-proclaimed "uber-dork" who is all about using whatever device will keep him in touch with the world. When out and about, he typically takes a BlackBerry, a cellphone, a laptop, a wireless receiver and a digital camera.

"Certain things are better for certain things," he says. "Some carriers have phenomenal networks, some may suck for data. The same goes for devices. It's all about having a great network for what you need to do at the time."

We all know folks like him — the ones who don't let their environment stand in the way of checking e-mail, calling the office and texting contacts at lightning speed. They never travel on business without an arsenal of portable and handheld devices. And they pack enough power cords and adapters to overcome any connectivity hurdles during their travels.

Simply being able to get connected when outside the office is old-school these days. Welcome to the world of the hyperconnected worker — an increasingly prolific breed that can't survive without a communications lifeline.

The hyperconnected society

There is actually bona fide research that defines the hyperconnected worker in real terms. According to a Nortel-sponsored white paper by research company IDC called The Hyperconnected: Here They Come! A Global Look at the Exploding 'Culture of Connectivity' and Its Impact on the Enterprise, as of early 2008 an estimated 16 per cent of the total information workforce was classed as hyperconnected. It adds that this number is on the rise and could soon reach 40 per cent.

The real eyebrow-raiser is that the study defines the average hyperconnected individual as a person who uses at least seven devices to access the network and nine connectivity applications.

It also showed that among the 17 countries surveyed, China had the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents, while Russia showed the highest increase.

Surprisingly, Canada joins the United Arab Emirates in having the fewest hyperconnected respondents. But you'll still come across people like Janine Allen, a senior consultant with Fleishman-Hillard in Toronto. On a recent media tour she was glued to her BlackBerry 24/7, co-ordinating travel arrangements and doing other business online even during a Bedouin barbecue in the middle of the desert outside Abu Dhabi and on the beaches of Dubai.

"I need to be accessible to my clients when they need me," she says. "When I'm travelling on business, I still need to keep things moving back at the office."

iPhone et al

It's the latest wave of fast, sophisticated and reliable wireless technology that's fuelling the growth of the hyperconnected ranks.

'The cool things that people saw with iPhones have definitely raised expectation levels. People are now asking why they can't have them [with any device].' —Nora Freedman, IDC

Pankaj Kedia, director of global ecosystem programs, mobile internet devices for Intel Corp. in San Francisco, notes that the appetite for connected devices that let people stay connected wherever they roam is huge.

"This year alone the total world market for smartphones was 182 million units, and it's predicted to reach 323 million by 2010. In addition, 54 million navigation devices, 28.5 portable media players and 39 million portable gaming devices were sold. All of these categories are expected to show significant increases by 2010."

Vish Nandlall, chief technology officer at Nortel in Toronto, reports that there are currently 3.5 billion cellphone subscribers worldwide, 3.6 million iPhone subscribers, and more than 400 million "3G to 4G" subscriptions to advance wireless services — a number that is estimated to reach 1.4 billion by 2012. The latter figure includes mobile broadband services such as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), EV-DO and W-CDMA (both third generation or 3G mobile broadband wireless standards), and LTE (Long Term Evolution — also dubbed the next generation GSM).

Hyperconnectivity got a huge boost with this year's unveiling of new generation smart phones, with the highly anticipated iPhone starting a new tidal wave of demand. BlackBerry followed with the Storm, while Nokia is now entering the North American fray with its E71 smartphone.

To get a sense of their impact, Nandlall reports that Apple App Store sales topped $30 million US in the first month after the online store opened, and the number of iPhone subscribers reached 3.6 million by October 2008.

As Nora Freedman, senior analyst with IDC in Framingham, Mass., explains: "The cool things that people saw with iPhones have definitely raised expectation levels. People are now asking why they can't have them [with any device]."

Granted, application access during the early adoption stages had its glitches (spotty access to broadband networks, cripplingly expensive data rates). However, once the world gets to the point of anytime, anywhere broadband access, anyone with a decent device should be able to enjoy the plethora of newfound applications with ease.

Need for speed

And that point isn't far off, according to wireless experts.

"[Broadband access] will soon be just like cellphone access and available wherever you roam," says Bill Harris, mobile broadband program manager for Dell Canada in Toronto, who dubs the new generation of hardcore wireless users "digital nomads."

"The new reality is that you can get internet access that's faster than what you get on your DSL line at home," Harris says. "That changes fundamentally where you can do computing, because it takes the chain off the need for 'Wi-Fi closeness,'" he adds, referring to the limited range of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Therein lays the challenge for some countries. Japan and China are well ahead of the curve with virtually ubiquitous access to mobile broadband services. Other countries have been following suit, furiously implementing broadband networks that ensure that all those devices will live up to their promise.

Nandlall says that compared with other countries, we are really at the beginning stages of mobile broadband in Canada, and we have some growing to do.

"It's early days, because we're not hitting the economies of scale for devices to support large [mobile broadband] adoption," he says. "We're not quite at that tipping point. Clearly the most critical path seems to be around smart phones, which will ultimately drive the initiative."

Harris says that the biggest issue facing Canada in terms of mobile broadband access is infrastructure costs, but progress is being made.

"When you look at coverage two years ago and what we have now, we've made a quantum leap. What hasn't been done yet will be easy to upgrade," he says.

'Tomorrow's platforms will be much smarter, deliver internet capabilities and offer high-performance, PC-like computing. I'm looking forward to playing that game.' —Pankaj Kedia, Intel Corp.

"Then broadband will be within arm's-reach access for everyone, and we will have gone from being tied to the office Wi-Fi to being able to go almost anywhere in the country [while staying connected]. And as carriers start reducing [the cost of] their connectivity plans, that will drive another fundamental change."

Howard Brown, president of Brown & Cohen Communications & Public Affairs Inc. in Toronto — a very early adopter of mobile devices — says he still recalls the days when he went to his cottage and had to hike to one of three locations to get a signal. "It was hilarious."

Brown also remembers sitting in phone booths with a pocket full of quarters and pages of phone numbers trying to find someone in the directory. "Now I can use my [smartphone] to send e-mails, look up contacts, conduct meetings, make calls, and review documents from anywhere in the world."

While folks might think their newly acquired smartphone is a cutting edge marvel, Intel's Kedia says there is much more to come.

"Two or three years back, the smartphone was primarily used for e-mail, calendars and voice. Today, they let you take the internet with you. But these are still early examples of where we are going. Look two or three years down the road and rich internet applications on these things will be a given."

"Next it will be embedded in devices that are used in the physical world, which will enable connectivity beyond the human population, such as intelligent appliances that talk to each other," Nandlall predicts. "Those devices will include RFID tags, actuators, sensors, and other built-in intelligence to interact in 'smart space.'"

Kedia says he's excited to see the next wave in hyperconnectivity. "Tomorrow's platforms will be much smarter, deliver internet capabilities and offer high-performance, PC-like computing. I'm looking forward to playing that game."

So get used to the idea of being connected not just anytime, anywhere, but all the time and everywhere.