HP and PricewaterhouseCoopers Form Venture Aimed at Airline,
Airport Services
Hewlett-Packard and PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that
they have teamed up to create new products and services to boost the
use of the Internet and wireless devices at airlines and airports.
Dubbed the "Aviation Solution Center", the joint
venture will pull together shared resources of people, products and
services from PwC's aviation consulting practice and HP's computing
and consulting teams to help design and install new technology to
operate and improve certain areas of airlines, airports and related
companies.
Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: There are three areas
of mobilizing the airports for wireless applications. First of all, airports are
hot spots for temporary Internet connection by busy professionals -
space where companies like MobileStar are active. You need to play
in the wireless LAN and Internet router product area to serve this
market. Secondly, more and more airlines are making it convenient
for regular travelers to check in by using untethered mobile
devices. Thirdly, the airlines are using mobile computing for
operational applications - curb-side passenger check-in, baggage
check-in by using RF scanners and aircraft maintenance using
wearable computers. While we do understand what PwC brings to the table, we are
not sure what motivates HP - other than Jornada and mobile Bazaar
products. Both of these are not preferred component choices for this
application. HP's contribution to enterprise portion of mobile
computing is weak, so far. HP may want to sell more servers but
hardware is the least important portion of a mobile solution. It is
the packaged application, the wireless network server, the device
transformation component of a specialized application server (a la
WebSphere), the ability to offer a multitude of mobile devices and
the systems integration expertise that are important factors. If PwC
has an exclusive or even a preferred arrangement with HP, it might
not offer its customers the best-of-breed solution. If HP wants to
utilize PwC for those enterprises where HP architecture is the
underlying infrastructure, then it is a good initiative.
