MOBITEX and mobile data systems

Standards play a vital role in bringing an industry to widespread commercial use. Without standardization, interoperability of comparable systems and services is impossible, and economies of scale are never reached for manufacturing and investment. Historically, the standards are established either by a dominant player in a particular industry, e.g., IBM/Microsoft´s development of DOS, or by coordination among multiple, non-dominant vendors, as was the case with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) or UNIX. The present article delves into the existing and emerging standards in the mobile data industry, with Ericsson´s MOBITEX system used as an example. It shows how wireline standards are being adapted to wireless, how this strategy compares to the development of new protocols and standards, and how the computer industry and its associated standards bodies are working to effectively hide the underlying wireless protocols