While companies scramble to set their wireless strategies, Lucent has been setting up the framework for whatever those strategies might be.

"We're involved in delivering the entire network-based solution, making sure that applications and content available on the Internet are compatible with our wireless environment," said Edward Coleman, Senior Manager for Lucent's Mobile Internet Marketing Development.

A twenty-year veteran with Lucent (and AT&T), Coleman has managed the CDPD (Cellular Packet Data Program) division for the last four years. Recently, he has headed up Lucent's Wireless Internet Strategy group, and now focuses on marketing wireless data.

A key part of Lucent's wireless data strategy is the Wireless Data Gateway, geared towards serving as a bridge between the Internet and the wireless network.

The Gateway also has several specific application-oriented capabilities, including a mobile communication systems platform voice browser, and the Internet Message Manager, which converts wireless internet messages into multiple media formats, such as third-party fax machines and text-to-voice conversion.

Lucent has been working with a number of device partners -- PDA, handset, Smart Phones, desktop computer, and gaming manufacturers -- to deliver these technologies. "We are agnostic in terms of which device will take over the marketplace... we will work with the people who will deliver those devices, to make sure that they're compatible with the products that we're delivering to the marketplace," Coleman said.

The list of Lucent's collaborators is daunting. They are working on various projects with iPlanet (new platform with the offshoot of Sun, Netscape and AOL; Yahoo! (wireless instant messaging); Strategy.com (personalization / transaction data mining); and Bandai (wireless gaming). There is also a joint marketing initiative called Cooperative Innovations, with Phone.com and DataOnAir as two of the partners.

Tack on the Wireless Multimedia Forum, an 'evangelism' group singing the praises of mass-market adoption of wireless multimedia data that counts Disney as a key member, and the scope of influence grows wider and wider.

The Bandai relationship is key for Coleman, who sees wireless device gaming as a way to bring young users into the wireless data fold.

"The mobile gaming industry will be attractive to the youth market, if marketed right. I expect that will be a driving factor behind driving the success of the industry. Once the youth market picks up on it, and as they age, I think it will become much more mass-market," Coleman said. "There are key market segments that will drive the mass-market success of wireless internet, and one of those is the youth market. You can look at NTT DoCoMo's success with i-Mode in Japan, as not being unique to Japan. I think it can occur in the US, and the youth market will be a key driving factor behind it."

Looking ahead, Coleman knows that the key to getting wireless data up to speed in North America will involve educating the consumer.

"Wireless will be evolving so it becomes more service-oriented, capable of delivering much more value to the subscriber, to the end-user than it has in the past. [Services such as] streaming media, mobile video game capabilities, and so on. It will be much more mass-market... I think everyone would admit it's not quite mass-market today. It will be mass-market when your kid and my aunt are walking around with wireless data devices, and it's expected that they will do that."