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Selecting equipment for an enterprise-scale company has never been easy. There's the technology itself to worry about, for starters--meaning, will it perform as advertised? But in a medium-size to large business, you have other concerns too: Will the new equipment integrate with existing systems? Will it be costly to maintain? Will it scale to meet demand? Most critically, will it serve current and future business objectives? Starting this month, PC World casts a critical eye on hardware, software, and services that target the large corporate client, in order to answer such questions. Each month, Enterprise Technology will scout for e-business products that pay off in profits, productivity, cost reduction, or strategic advantage. We hope you find the new section useful. Send us your comments.

The problem with palmtop computers is that they're throwbacks, really. Just as desktop PCs were once maverick, unnetworked little islands of information, today's ubiquitous Palms, Handsprings, Pocket PCs, and similar devices have snuck into the enterprise through the back door--and they remain mostly deaf to its servers and systems. No one has yet invented a wire long enough to tether them to the corporate network.

No one needs to. Over the next few years, managers and experts say, wireless communications will lasso these last vestiges of stand-alone computing and drag them into the enterprise. In today's post-Web-boom era, no one suggests investing in wireless fantasy projects. But where there's a chance for real benefit, exploring wireless options today can help prepare for a future when handhelds join the front line of business information systems.