3Com, Microsoft execs see burgeoning use for handhelds.

Top executives from Microsoft and 3Com painted a bright picture for handheld technologies at the annual Corporate Computing and Networking Expo Wednesday, saying those technologies will eventually be an integral piece of the infrastructure of corporate enterprises. During his speech on the rapid convergence of voice and data networks, 3Com President and Chief Operating Officer Bruce Claflin said the $2 billion handheld market is the fastest-growing computer platform in the market; He also said approximately 75 percent of those devices are being bought for use in the enterprise. "More and more users are adopting these devices to fit into their infrastructure, using them for things like rolling out applications. We will see [them] used more and more for e-commerce as well," Claflin said. "We are only beginning to scratch the surface on the possibilities for the connected organizer market." Likewise, a top Microsoft official Wednesday said he foresees a slimmed-down Windows NT on handheld devices playing an important role in the company_s corporate operating systems strategy in the next three or four years.