“Developing Windermere.com to function in a wireless environment was simply an extension of our philosophy that technology enables the customer and agents,” said Allen Benson, Windermere’s chief technology officer.

During client meetings Windermere agents noticed a rise in tech savvy customers, many with wireless internet access. Those observations prompted Windermere’s technology group to program the popular search functions on Windermere.com to operate in a wireless Web environment.

Launched in July, “Rolling Search” will allow wireless users to search Windermere’s database of homes by selecting important criteria such as, city, price, and characteristics such as bedrooms and baths.

Technology strategists, the Gartner Group of Stamford, Conn., projects the total number of installed mobile phones will exceed a billion sometime after 2003, and by 2004, 70 percent of cellular phones will have Internet capability.