Ericsson's Media and Internet Service portfolio extends to the enterprise sector, which is increasingly being recognized by operators as a resource with huge growth potential. Approximately 82 percent of Western Europe's workforce is employed by small and medium sized companies, and this is where Ericsson's enterprise focus lies.

With solutions like Push Email and PBXs, Ericsson can help operators tap into this promising market by providing enterprises with what they need most: secure, wireless access to data and voice services.

According to industry analysts ARC Group, mobile data traffic revenues from e-mail and personal information management functions (PIM), such as calendars, will amount to more than USD 650 million this year, and increase 13-fold in the next five years.

Peter May is a sales director for a company called Mobis International. The firm provides business information solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises. May devotes his time to speaking to potential and current clients. His days are filled with sales meetings across Greater London.

If May is going into the city center to meet a client, he takes the train. In London, it's often regarded as rude, or even prohibited, to speak on a mobile phone in a train carriage, so he uses his Sony Ericsson P800 smart phone to send texts, read e-mails and catch up on what's going on, without uttering a word.

When he gets into town, he settles down in a cafe and sets up his laptop. With wireless LAN hotspots popping up all over London, it's easy to log on to the Internet, write e-mails and check larger documents.

If a sales meeting is on the outskirts of the city, May takes the car. He reckons he knows almost every lay-by and car park in London's suburbs by now! He's often parked the car to send information or read documents that have been sent to him.

May says: "I must admit, the predominant thing that I live by is my phone, and second my e-mail account, because it's all about communicating with people. The most natural user interface is speaking to people. Now I feel lost without it. It's probably too strong to say my mobile phone is a personal friend but I couldn't carry out my business without it."

Boguslaw Piekarski lives and works in California. He's in charge of business development at Telasic Communications, a start-up company with 70 employees.

Thanks to wireless technology, he is able to combine a demanding job that requires frequent traveling with an active family life - and to satisfy the needs of customers in Europe, Asia and the US.

He says: "Communications are more about dialog than about what we do."

Piekarski checks his e-mail and answers his phone from his office, his car, the airport, at home, or anywhere else he happens to be. Wireless technology has made him productive and reachable at all hours - and his customers love it.

He gets up at 6am and checks his e-mails right away before waking up his daughters. While they get ready for school, he answers the most urgent e-mails, which usually come from Europe. His office number is forwarded to his mobile phone, which enables him to connect to his voice mail to check for any important calls from overseas.

"Working at home is highly effective; there is no rush for me to get to the office if I don't have a meeting to attend. I just wait for the traffic to get lighter before I leave. When I am traveling, I usually check my e-mail before driving to the airport."

Piekarski uses an array of wireless solutions: "I use the Internet for data, IP phones at the office, and two wireless phones for real-time communications. One is for domestic use, the other for international use. I can use my laptop either wired or wireless, and I love that flexibility.

"If I am in a meeting in the conference room with a client, for example, I can check his web site while I am negotiating with him and make sure the prices he gives me are accurate. In a more personal situation, such as if I am sailing with my family, I can spend 10 minutes a day taking care of my important dealings and avoid having hundreds of e mails upon my return from vacation."

Colm O'Callaghan/Hendrik Bergstén