3:30 PM -- 2007 is going to be a watershed year for mobile-to-mobile convergence. While I expect the carriers to proceed slowly, many of them will in fact move towards converged, multi-radio solutions. But even as the carriers continue to experiment, tinker, and roll out limited services like T-Mobile US Inc. 's HotSpot@Home, this will be a great year for those addressing the enterprise-centric approach to convergence, like DiVitas Networks Inc. and the anticipated offering from still-in-stealth-mode Agito Networks.

Since I get asked this question a lot, I think the success of converged services boils down to thee key factors, as follows:

Cost: Convergence can save money for the carriers in that WiFi offers greater capacity than WWAN-based services, and these savings can in theory be passed on to customers. Enterprise-centric solutions can provide savings on carrier-based services.

Coverage: Convergence can provide service where cellular is week, such as in-building, and in residential settings.

Capacity: And finally, convergence provides a lot more raw capacity for both voice and data than in possible in WWANs alone. I see convergence initially being deployed using the WWAN for voice and the WLAN for data, but both service can support both types of traffic will handoffs in both directions -- depending, of course, on implementation and what the carriers decide to offer.

But in the interim, enterprise-centric, do-it-yourself solutions will be big winners in 2007. The demand is there, the benefits are real, and there’s really no need to wait for a carrier at all.

— Craig Mathias is Principal Analyst at the Farpoint Group , an advisory firm specializing in wireless communications and mobile computing. Special to Unstrung