Primary Research Study Provides New Insight into Enterprise Adoption of Wide Area Wireless Data Services

Top concerns include real-time access to and central management of field-force data

Seattle—April 20, 2004— NetMotion Wireless Inc., the market leader in mobility management software, today announced the results of a primary research study that confirms accelerating enterprise adoption of wireless wide area network (WAN) data services. Of the 200 enterprise IT decision makers who participated in the research study commissioned by NetMotion Wireless, 50 percent said they were particularly receptive to using wireless WAN services, such as GPRS and 1xRTT. Twenty-five percent of these respondents say their field workers already rely on these networks and more than 69 percent plan to use or increase use of wireless WAN data services within 12 months.

Study participants were recruited from IT departments at companies supporting 50 or more field workers, defined as field sales, service and support personnel. Additionally, participants were recruited from organizations whose field workers spend at least one third of their workday away from the office or home, or do not have an office. The study was conducted by Cascade Strategies Inc., an independent research firm based in Seattle, Wash.

"We're really encouraged by this rapid growth in real-world adoption of new wireless data options, particularly wide area access offered by leading cellular carriers," said Steve Cullen, CEO of NetMotion Wireless. "The real benefit of using these networks, however, depends on workers' ability to access the same applications they rely on in the office—in real-time from the field."

Supporting a Truly Mobile Field Service and Sales Organization

In fact, providing field workers with real-time access to applications and enterprise data using wireless WAN data services was identified as a top concern among study participants. Of those particularly receptive to using wireless WANs, more than 47 percent emphasize that it is extremely important to increase the number of times field workers can connect to an enterprise network while away from the office. To gain a better understanding of access requirements in a WAN environment, the study also surveyed the types of applications field workers use, including customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation and other database programs. Field service and support applications were among the most cited as was the need for wireless access to more complex enterprise applications. Almost 53 percent of respondents expect CRM to be the application most used over wireless networks 12 months from now.

Management of multiple wireless networks also was noted in the study as a key concern of respondents. In particular, central management and wireless network cost control were cited by 77 percent of all participants. More than half of mobile workers already use multiple networks (broadband connections at home or in hotels, public hot spots, wireless WANs and corporate wireless LANs), underscoring the need for a centralized network management solution. Results also indicated that field worker dependence on multiple available networks is expected to grow over the next 12 months.

Finally, although enterprise adoption of wireless WANs is accelerating, IT managers continue to look for resolution of key issues, including:

• the expense of wireless WAN service (57 percent of respondents)
• insufficient network coverage (43 percent)
• slow throughput (36 percent)
• concerns about network reliability (32 percent)

More than 350 organization use NetMotion Mobility™ to solve critical wireless data issues such as application performance and reliability, intermittent connectivity, network performance, management of mobile computing deployments and wireless network cost control. To learn more about Mobility or obtain additional information about this study from NetMotion Wireless, e-mail paigel@nmwco.com or call (206) 691-5555.

About NetMotion Wireless Inc.

NetMotion Wireless is the developer of Mobility, an easily deployed, software-only mobile computing solution that provides continuous, secure connectivity to enterprise wireless networks. NetMotion Mobility enables mobile workers to operate as effectively on wireless networks as they do on wired ones—with secure, uninterrupted access to the same data and applications available on their desktop PCs. More than 350 leading organizations now use Mobility to eliminate the frustration and complexity of managing their mobile computing deployments. The company has won more than 20 awards, including Technology of the Year (Wireless Networking) from InfoWorld magazine, Business Product of the Year from the WSA and Investors' Choice/Most Likely to Succeed at the Technologic Partners' Wireless Ventures conference. For more information about NetMotion Wireless or its products, please visit www.netmotionwireless.com, call (206) 691-5500, or write 701 N. 34th Street, Suite 250, Seattle, Wash. 98103.