Network World's Joanie Wexler has an interesting theory.

Wexler suggests that the because the BlackBerry 7270 Wireless Handheld runs with an 802.11b radio than via a cellular radio, the device could rival SpectraLink's WiFI VoIP solutions.

If BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is real serious about competing with SpectraLink, Wexler makes the point that some "known vulnerabilities" need to be addressed in the 7270.

These vulnerabilities are part and parcel of the 64 and 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy security protocols the 7270 runs on- a solution that is seen as inferior to the Wi-Fi Protected Access-2 802.11 security extension now supported by SpectraLink handsets.

RIM may be planning another strategy to close the security gap. Wexler quotes RIM Director of WLAN Solutions Eric Ritter as saying that RIM is testing several versions of the Extensible Authentication Protocol, all of which falls uner the IEEE 802.1x framework.

That's Malcolm Collins, Nortel's president of Enterprise Networks.

During Collins' appearance tomorrow morning at the Wireless Networking Symposium in Orlando, I'd bet he has a lot to say about the forthcoming integration of  Novell GroupWise Messenger into BlackBerry.

If you are at the conference, you might also be eager to hear what Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP America, has to say.

The event at which Collins and McDermott will appear will take place between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. at the main stage.

Tomorrow (closing day) also brings several breakout sessions on troubleshooting BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Nortel and 3Com are going to develop SIP-based voice over IP support to the BlackBerry 7270 to make phone calls using campus area wireless LANs. The Nortel client software will integrate with their own Multimedia Communications Server while the 3Com client will integrate into RIM's server product. The fact that this is SIP-based could mean the VoIP protocols will be open to multiple manufacturers devices on a network. But using a central server and new client software may mean higher costs to implement.

Well, it’s just about here. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and Nortel have just signed a deal in which the BlackBerry 7270 will be equipped with Nortel’s 5100 Multimedia Communications server (pictured at right).

There’s no official launch date, but the “memorandum of understanding” that led to this announcement tells me it should be sometime in the next few to several months.

The memo says the initial capabilities of this set-up will be over corporate wireless LANs, not over public Wi-Fi networks. But given predictions that Wi-Fi VoIP will be a growing market, don’t be surprised to see this set-up acquire public Wi-Fi capability.

If and when that happens, I won’t have to pull off the expressway and search for a Wi-Fi coffee shop where I could plug in my laptop. Won’t that be cool?