Best described as a Mobile Broadband Hotspot, the MiFi acts as an 802.11 (WiFi) access point for up to five devices, which it then connects to the Internet via a mobile data connection – the MiFi has a SIM card tucked away in the battery compartment. In our trials, the device lasts up to 4 hours on a single charge, which is reasonably impressive for an access point. It is small and light (it tucks easily into a pocket in a jacket or a bag). Switch on, then fire up your laptop/iPod Touch/WiFi device of choice and surf the net anywhere up to 10 metres away from where the MiFi has been put down.

The MiFi supports a reasonable selection of 802.11 security features, to limit its use to selected devices, where that is a requirement. It also supports a MicroSD card (which can be up to 16GB), enabling local file sharing via a web interface. A very nice additional feature that boosts its usefulness on the road. The connection speeds (via the mobile network ) are up to 5.7 Mbps on the uplink and 7.2 Mbps on the downlink, which puts it firmly in the broadband space, with very attractive upload speeds too.

Initially the MiFi is available from Vodafone in Germany, Romania and Spain. The device seems a good fit for:

• Mobile teams – enabling collaboration and share data access.
• Road warriors with more than one device requiring mobile data access.
• Small group meetings in venues without WiFi.
• Telemetry/mobile monitoring with WiFi enabled sensors.
• Backup connectivity for small offices that are WiFi/DSL based.

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Meanwhile, ZDNet’s “Netbooks just want to be free” reports on the Asus bundle available in the UK, which gets you an Eee PC 2GG and a USB modem with a two-year data contract. That has got to be worth thinking about for a mobile workforce.

I’m addicted to my trusty Samsung Q1 (even though it’s due an upgrade now that it has been replaced by the Q1 Ultra). It is super compact and obviates the need for a keyboard with its touch screen. The poor windows tablet seems like it has been languishing a bit of late, which is a shame, as I think it is the most underrated piece of productivity technology out there. Apple might even be heading into the tablet scene itself, according to filings discussed by Apple Insider.

The Windows Tablet built in journal application is great, but Microsoft OneNote takes the concept onto a whole other level (nice example from lifehacker: Microsoft OneNote is a Note-Taking Power Tool - over 100 comments on that post). Tony Lock even blogged over at IT-Director.com “Time To Take the Tablet – Vista’s unsung platform” singing its praises and asking ”why is there very little marketing of this platform or associated business solutions? “.

Tablet PCs get away from the sub-standard sized keyboards that limit the usability of many ultra portables out there. Removing the keyboard constraint also allows for an even smaller machine. That makes an ideal tool for field automation applications and mobile workers. Standard applications can be used, rather than having to write or source apps for the various different flavours of mobile platform. Additionally, the devices are low power and the costs are low and still falling – ticking the green and ecomonical boxes.

Putting the keyboard to one side for a minute (no pun intended), UMPCs/Netbooks also make great cloud computing clients. GigaOM suggests a nice list of ideal features in “What Makes a Cloud Computer?” and reminds me that I should revisit my Digital Nomad check list).

If you are fed up of expensive laptops going astray, and want to reduce employee wear and tear from carrying huge laptops, this is a nice alternative path to getting mobile workers up and going. When you or the team get back into the office, just plug into a full size screen, a USB keyboard and a mouse and you can do the desktop thing – at lower power.

Looking to get a mobile user up and going? It might not be too long until you just point them to the nearest mobile phone shop!

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• Encourage flexible working
  
• Hot desking and mobility
  
• Get rid of hardware you don’t need
  
• (Make) Lasting changes

They suggest getting rid of the office, or reducing its size by using hot desking and making use of hosted services for voice and other applications. For me it came as a gentle reminder of how mainstream these things are becoming. Certainly there is little reason for employees to be desk bound:

• Mobile telephony is more affordable than ever.
• Bandwidth is more than sufficient and affordable (both Broadband and mobile).
• VPN and/or hosted applications are simple to implement.

If staff are stuck in the office, its time to think about why. Getting them set free also helps with disaster recovery – they can pick up sticks and move to wherever there is bandwidth and space. It’s time to ditch the fax machine, throw the email servers out of the office and move on.

Beating the crunch is about saving money and learning how to use the resources you already have such as the internet, mobiles and email. Simple cost cutting initiatives won’t just save you now, they are the way of the future if any company is to expand beyond 2008. 

Technology has always been about better, faster, cheaper. As business is too, it should be a surprise that business technology holds the answer the dealing with tightening markets.

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