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A Look at Government Markets for Handheld Applications: 2001
By Dawn Marie Yankeelov, President of ASPectx
Industry Overview
Government applications on handheld devices within the United States continue
to increase in numbers and diversity because of an emphasis in government
on improved productivity, accuracy of data, and the interest in mobile
computing overall. Applications run the gamut from wireless email, to
sifting through extensive crime databases on the web, to two-way messaging
in proprietary systems on RF waves, to the filling out all manner of forms
sent to instant printing on handheld printers. Beginning in the mid 90’s,
a number of companies already serving the federal government within the
IT space began to develop application modules or migrate existing applications
to handheld devices. There has been an increasing emphasis on the
Palm OS applications, but there are also a fair number of proprietary
protocols and private infrastructure methodologies being used. Sweeping
statements about who has the largest market share related to handheld
devices and related applications available in federal, state and local
government agencies are difficult to make since even the largest players,
including Palm itself, IBM, Aethersystems, Cisco, and large consultants
like Impact Innovations Government Group, for example, have captured less
than 20 percent each of the overall perceived marketplace. This
foreshadows the difficulty in penetrating the market with applications
designed for handhelds. 3.7 million government users of wireless
services and handhelds are expected by late 2003, according to Aether
Systems. Generally speaking, those starting with federal government
applications on handhelds have found resale value in looking to state
and, in some cases, local government. Clearly there are more low-end,
forms-based applications coming, and the government markets are fragmented
enough to warrant new players across all pricepoints between $15 applications
per user to $800 applications per user, based on the research compiled
for this report. While we may never reach a paperless society in
U.S. government, there is a desire to reduce paperwork in general.
Unfortunately many consulting arms of hardware providers, as well as software
development/consulting firms already serving government entities are best
equipped to offer wireless applications with multi-form features on handhelds,
because they know the landscape.
Handheld Use in Government
IBM’s business development office has been quoted as saying that
its government customers are looking for flexible solutions, so they can
change components without having to change the rest of the system.
For example, field workers can start with PalmPilots and change to notebooks
or another kind of handheld device down the line. The ultimate goal
is to tap into the benefits of wireless data solutions. Improved
productivity was cited by IBM for field workers on PalmPilots at an increase
of 300 percent because of the increased accuracy of data as it moves between
the field and headquarters. For law enforcement applications, safety
is considered a prime benefit of wireless because it allows officers in
the field to identify drivers and their criminal records by tapping into
national crime databases.
Public safety officials express the highest interest in handheld government-related
applications because of the premium based on letting technology reduce
the safety-risk factor. Within public safety, solutions on handhelds
are seen most in fire and emergency medical services. For example, American
Medical Response (amr-inc.com), a private firm, hired by cities and counties
in 38 states to provide emergency medical services, launched a mobile
data-collection application using PalmPilots in early 1999. It was
first used in San Mateo County, Calif., to capture information ranging
from details about their dispatch to the patient’s vital signs. The
technology is also used to tap into patient databases to find out about
allergies and medications where possible, as well as for dispatch of ambulances.
The data was required under a new state law. Information Architects
(www.ia.com) began working in 1999 to create a wireless application on
handhelds for police officers to access motor vehicle, registration, ticketing,
and court information in Louisville, Ohio. The citation information
will soon be transmitted in real time to court for scheduling.
Palm has dozens of projects in the federal sector, including the Navy,
the Centers for Disease Control, and the U.S. Postal Service. (Contact:
John Inkley, Manager of Federal Sales for Palm, Inc.) One application
involves the use of handhelds on the aircraft carrier USS Constellation
to grade the landing of every plane on the ship. In the old days,
the Naval landing signal officers would call out phases of approach to
someone who would record it with a pen, paper and flashlight. The
information is now transmitted from the Palm to the central Naval database
via modem or by plugging the Palm into a docking cradle connected to a
port on an onboard computer, or wirelessly.
Beyond public safety, most handheld applications of interest fall into
the areas of inspections, public utilities, probation, lotteries and deploying
legacy-type applications. Utilities are also growing users of wireless
data networks. Since the 1970s, beta trials has been prevalent in using
handhelds to monitor gas and oil pipelines and to control electric dispatch
and transmission systems and read meters. Still less than 1 percent
of the 200 million meters in the United States are automated as of early
2000, according to the Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm.
The push for using handhelds and wireless solutions is coming on the crest
of widely-anticipated third-generation wireless standards like CDMA (code
division multiple access) which uses spread-spectrum technology to spread
a signal over a greater bandwidth. For example, instead of transmitting
at 9.6Kbps or 14.4Kbps, users will be able to send and receive data at
rates that can reach 1MBps or more by 2003. CDMA, for example, is
much more prevalent in Asia, foreshadowing international opportunities
in that region. Europe has spent its efforts on GSM (Global System
for Mobile Communications), another wireless standard. TDMA (Time
Division Multiple Access), another hybrid, uses a different form of digital
technology and is not that widely accepted in the US, which is what matters
most in serving local and state governments.
New Opportunities: New Grants under Federal Fire Act and COPS MORE
2001 Grants
There are additional sources of funding available for fire services to
acquire new technologies such as wireless mobile data. The long-awaited
appropriation of the FIRE Act’s new federal grant program for the
nation's fire departments was passed by Congress, opening a new window
of federal support for local fire and emergency services agencies. Congress
approved the appropriation of $100 million to fund the program in FY 2001,
the full amount authorized by a bill that Congress passed in the Defense
Authorization Act last October, according to Jerry Ross, legislative director
of the Congressional Fire Services Institute. This means that the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), designated to administer the programs,
can begin to move forward with the program immediatelyFor the fourth year
running, the Department of Justice COPS Office has announced a COPS MORE
police technology grant competition. This year, up to $81 million in grant
funding will be made available to local police and sheriff’s departments.
As with previous years, COPS MORE 2001 is intended to support an increase
in the amount of time that an agency’s officers are deployed in a
community policing capacity due to technological enhancements, and subsequent
gains in efficiency.
The grants will fund the following items:
· Mobile computing systems
· Personal computer systems
· Computer aided dispatch systems
· Record management systems
· Crime analysis hardware/software
· Automated booking systems
· Automated fingerprint identification systems
· Video arraignment systems
This year the COPS office is putting a cap on the total dollar amount
any one applicant can receive. The limitations are as follows:
· Agencies with a service population of 50,000 or less may apply
for a maximum of $250,000 in Federal funds;
· Agencies with a service population of 50,001 to 150,000 may apply
for a maximum of $500,000 in Federal funds; and
· Agencies with a service population greater than 150,000 may apply
for a maximum of $1 million in Federal funds.
The COPS Office also made other changes from previous years including
the provision that grant awards will fund only one comprehensive, stand-alone,
technology system.
General Market Size Statistics for Government
International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., predicts that by 2003,
more people will be accessing the Web from wireless and handheld devices
than from conventional hard-wired PCs. IDC numbers suggest 729 million
mobile Internet subscribers compared to 525 million wired users.
What does this mean for government? “We see a steady migration
from the desktop out to handheld in the federal sector,” said Dan
Shell, consulting system engineer for Cisco Systems, Inc. who focuses
on wireless and mobile IP for the federal sector, in an interview for
Washington Technology magazine in November 2000. Shell sees that
opportunities will jump 10 times its current size in the next two years.
Cisco is particularly active in the handheld space as it relates to the
Defense Department and NASA, partnering with Lockheed Martin Corp., Verizon
Wireless, and Science Applications International Corp, for example.
Motorola has placed its bets on its wireless in-vehicle Mobile Workstation
520 and Motorola Private Data Total Access Communications, called DataTAC—mobile
communications systems from federal, state and local enforcement agencies.
This is well-financed effort with opportunities for partnering.
The Los Angeles Police Department spent $21.7 million in a Motorola mobile
data system. More than 1,200 of the Mobile Workstation 520 units
have been installed in department vehicles to provide field access to
major crime databases in the nation.
State and local governments will spend $38.8 billion on IT in 2001, a
5.4 percent increase over spending in 2000. Federal spending on
IT is expected to grow by 4.5 percent to $41.9 billion. There are
certain states that will naturally spend more. About half the states
have budget problems because of slowing revenue and increasing Medicaid
spending, said Aldona Valicenti, chief information officer for Kentucky
and president of the National Association if State Information Resource
Executives. Delaware, and North Carolina are experiencing serious
cutbacks in 2001, for example.
Input Inc.’s Government Research Group (inputgov.com) expects double-digit
growth in government IT spending on mobile and wireless, and they do not
predict many other sectors will be like this. The Navy has taken
the lead in handheld use since traditionally each of 5,000 crew members
would be handed a piece of paper a day for six months to do appropriate
filing of reports. Even the Democratic Technology and Communications
Committee has looked at mobile systems, but has not yet made a decision
about adopting them.
The primary downside to using handhelds and WAP (Wireless Application
Protocol) as the standard is the security question. Some security
experts believe that there is still a potential WAP security hole at the
gateway server at this time. |
