Going Mobile

Link your fixed and mobile office functions seamlessly

As Seen in June 2005 Twin Cities Business Monthly

By Scott A. Briggs

N'compass Solutions, a technology consulting and management firm in Minneapolis, raised the curtain two years ago on its plans to outfit the new Guthrie Theater with network and telecommunications infrastructure. Plans then called for a traditional private branch exchange (PBX) package to provide phone service, operating independently of the facility's data network.

Times have changed since 2003, however, and so have the Guthrie's blueprints. Businesses are increasingly turning to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to handle their telephone needs. VoIP sends voice traffic over the same converged network that carries computer data, video content, and other digital assets. This set-up can scale back wiring work during new construction, cut operations costs (including long-distance fees from traditional phone service providers), and create new ways to achieve mobile access to voice, data, and video systems.

N'compass's revised Guthrie designs now include a shared Internet protocol (IP) network to serve data transport and telecommunications needs. This will allow the theater to easily extend its phone system to off-site prop and costume-storage facilities that already have network access, while opening up pos sibilities for enabling new IP-based voice applications in the future. The Guthrie will also establish a wireless local area network (WLAN) to provide reliable, high-speed network access from anywhere in the building.

Initially, N'compass expected that wall jacks for laptops would sufficiently serve the needs of visiting artists for data access, but it was difficult to determine where a rotating contingent of creative minds would prefer to plug in.

"One week, the guy wants to stand in the upper left-hand corner, so we were looking at wiring that upper left-hand corner," says N'compass Partner Keith A. Meierhofer. "Then the next art director comes in and wants to stand in the middle, in the back. Everybody has a different way of doing things." With a WLAN, artists will be able to view set designs, search costume inventories, and access other needed information from just about any seat in the house.

Eventually, Meierhofer suggests, the Guthrie might use the WLAN to support wireless VoIP telephone handsets as well. Ardent Partners, Inc., a converged-communications firm in Plymouth has offered voice service over wireless networks- referred to as VoWLAN or VoWi-Fi-for the past three years. Skyline Exhibits, an Eagan maker of trade show displays, was among the first of Ardent's clients to install such a system. Skyline maintains sales and administrative offices in the same building as its construction shops. Wireless handsets allow Skyline's customer service representatives leave their desks to check on exhibit materials that are being built, while staying on the line with clients. Skyline has also incorporated wireless video over IP, using portable cameras to send live footage to a Web site. Clients can view the Web site, see their current projects in process, and request changes on the spot. "Skyline leveraged wireless technology for voice, video, and data, [because] their retention of customers was dramatic," says John Norton, Ardent Partners president. "They did much more business with repeat customers. They also eliminated a lot of rework. That's how it paid off for them."

The Skyline installation called for about 120 wireless VoIP phone units. But Ardent has also met more modest needs with similar technology. One banking client employed a half-dozen loan officers who traveled among branches. Ardent installed a VoIP network within each facility, and the bank issued wireless VoIP handsets to the loan officers.

As soon as one of these devices enters a branch, it accesses the companywide IP network and functions as a standard phone extension. Wireless connections to IP networks produce returns in other industries, too. Rental-car-agency employees process vehicle returns right from the lot, saving timecrunched travelers a trip to the counter, while accelerating vehicles' return to service. Retailers are exploring "smart-shelf" systems, which could inform employees when shelves need restocking, and video-surveillance systems that transmit live footage from security cameras to hand-held devices carried by guards on the sales floor.

A Healthy Interest

Health care organizations are among the most eager adopters of mobile IP technologies. "Hospitals are spending a ton of dough on this," says Norton. Doctors can use hand-held devices to call up medical records or dictate patient notes in the examination room, and their comments can be immediately stored in the patient's electronic file. Meanwhile, cleaning crews responsible for readying hospital rooms can use hand-held wireless devices to check off their completed work and be notified when another room requires their attention, decreasing the length of time rooms sit empty.

"That's the business case," says Meierhofer. "If I can put more patients through those beds, I'm making money. That pays for a wireless access point pretty quickly." A widespread nursing shortage increases demand for wireless devices in medical settings, says Norton. A smaller nursing staff can increase their responsiveness by carrying phones that are integrated with patient monitoring systems. "If the patient's vital signs go down below threshold, the system will ring a phone and give a text message saying it's this room, it's this patient, and here's the code," Norton says. "It helps make the nurses more effective, and it can [positively] affect patient care."

Can You Hear Me Now?

Once an enterprise adopts a vital mobile application, the business counts on the underlying technology, Meierhofer says. That means its IP network and wireless systems must come under scrutiny. "If businesses are going to give teams mobile devices and expect that they can function and do business on those devices at all times, they need to engineer their wireless networks to support that," Meierhofer says. Building a business-class, fully functional wireless network that ensures adequate quality of service requires taking into account doors, ductwork, walls lined with lead, and other structural elements liable to obstruct signal coverage. When N'compass works with a client, the firm draws up floor plans and generates 3D models to illustrate exactly where and how coverage will be provided.

"When I have mobile voice or something that is a true business tool, my expectation is that I have coverage wherever I go," Meierhofer says. "If I am a doctor in a hospital taking a call from my nurse and I get in the elevator, I expect that call to continue. It sounds crazy to have wireless in a stairway, but if I'm on a voice call with my manager, and I choose to use the stairway and drop that call between floors, is that acceptable?"

But spreading radio frequency (RF) signals throughout every nook and cranny of a building is tricky. "The frustrating thing about RF is, you can't see it," says Norton. Fortunately, new tools have arrived in recent months that make the work of companies such as Ardent Partners a little easier.

In the past, Norton explains, after setting up a facility with 40 or 50 access points, each point transmitting wireless signals in a unique pattern influenced by location and surroundings, the process of adjusting and finalizing the arrangement for optimum coverage and performance could take months. Now there are products available that detect and display the areas of wireless coverage in a building. "The access points kind of talk to each other and paint a picture of where your RF is," Norton explains. This interaction speeds up installation considerably. Plus, maintenance and support are more effective because it's possible to pinpoint where an access point is failing. "In the past, you didn't know if one went down," Norton says. "Someone would complain that there was a gap in coverage, and then you would have to go figure out what happened. Now all that is reported to you."

A Common Denominator

Converged IP networks encourage increased mobility, because they use the same data transport technology as the Internet. This means that devices capable of going on line, including smart phones, PDAs, and wireless-equipped laptops, already "speak the same language" as an organization's primary information conduit.

"If your corporate communications infrastructure is IP-based, it's easy to tap into the Internet and other IP networks," says Scott DeToffol, director of product development and marketing for Enventis Telecom, a Plymouth-based telecommunications and network solutions provider. Using the Internet as a bridge, a company can employ various types and brands of devices to hook up with its voice and data systems. Workers from the same company can even use cell phone plans from different service providers.

"IP is the great equalizer, because it goes nicely across platforms and vendors,"says Bob Andersen, director of the Masters of Science in Tele-communications program at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Its compatibility facilitates customizing applications and solutions to users' needs. Voice messages left on an office phone system, for example, can be sent to the same unified mailbox that contains e-mail and faxes, and the recipient can retrieve them from any Internet-connected computer anywhere in the world. Those same voice messages could also be automatically converted and forwarded to a cell phone as text messages.

Integration with collaborative messaging systems, such as Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Notes, along with voice recognition software, allows further functionality from the wireless handset, explains Shane Philip, national director for customer relationship management applications and alliances with Cross Telecom, an Eden Prairie-based provider of Avaya-branded telecommunications products.

"I can access my calendar, I can schedule meetings, I can schedule conference calls," Philip says. "All these things that you would typically do with a laptop, I can do with . . . a cell phone."

The compatibility of IP-based delivery systems opens up lots of possibilities for business benefits. For example, a simple application could enable users to circumvent supplemental charges from their wireless phone service carriers. Many cellular plans charge extra for accessing e-mail from the handset, yet throw text-messaging services in for free. "Why wouldn't I set up a gateway that turns e-mail messages into text messages," says Bil MacLeslie, CEO of ipHouse, a Minneapolis- based Internet service provider.

DeToffol uses his office VoIP system to manage the calls he receives on his cell phone. If he doesn't pick up his wireless handset when it rings, the calls are forwarded to the VoIP system. DeToffol can give his callers the choice of either leaving a message or ringing a series of phones throughout the office to quickly track him down. Cross Telecom strengthens the bond between office and cell phones with Avaya's EC500 product, which essentially turns a cell phone into an extension of the office line. If a cellular handset is within reach of the enterprise's wireless network, it can receive calls placed to the office telephone system. A user can even answer a call on a cell phone and then pick up a desk phone to continue the conversation with no interruption. Because these calls are carried by the company's own IP network, the firm cuts back on perminute charges levied by its cellular service provider.

Avaya plans to take this concept a step further with the Enterprise Seamless Mobility Solution, developed in partnership with wireless equipment makers Proxim and Motorola. This platform will allow a single handset to place and receive calls through a company's network when inside the business facility, and then switch seamlessly to a cellular phone network when the user exits the workplace. The solution promises increased productivity and, in some cases, considerable cost savings. Research cited by Avaya indicates that many large companies still pay out millions of dollars in reimbursement to employees who use personal cell phones while away from their desks. "If I'm already paying for this infrastructure and there is a way I can leverage that so I'm not shelling out millions of dollars in reimbursement, why wouldn't I want to do that?" Philip says. In some cases, mobile interactions with IP networks can revolutionize the way companies-entire industries, in fact-do business. Insurance adjusters can snap digital pictures of property damage on site-perhaps with a camera-equipped cell phone-and send the images, along with a claims report, directly to an office location, where claim processing can begin immediately. A real estate agent can download listings and neighborhood information on the spot, while looking at properties with a client. In a warehouse, wireless bar-code scanners update inventory records as soon as products enter or exit the facility. Salespeople in the field can pull up that information on hand-held devices while working with a customer.

Watch For WiMAX and 3G

The ability to take full advantage of wireless applications rests on the availability of wireless Internet access. Right now, there are two primary mobile online portals: wireless "hot spots" and wireless data networks controlled by cellular phone service carriers. Wireless portals can provide a robust, high-speed connection similar to that of a wired DSL or cable modem. But most wireless hot spots only stretch a few hundred feet, and rarely go beyond the facility providing the signal. So hot spots can't be relied upon if an application calls for constant access. Cell phone carriers, meanwhile, offer more widespread wireless Internet access. The service tends to be relatively slow-appropriate for retrieving e-mail, synching a calendar or price list, and perhaps checking the stock ticker, but not for live multimedia transport or other bandwidth- heavy applications. The limits of both wireless and cellular Internet technology show signs of dissipating, however. Cellular phone carriers are starting to offer faster connection speeds-; sometimes referred to as "3G" services. (3G stands for "third generation," successor technology to analog, and then digital, voice service.) 3G technology has been prevalent in Europe and Asia for several years. In the United States, Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless have rolled out initial 3G deployments in selected metropolitan areas, though not the Twin Cities. All major cell carriers plan to provide nationwide 3G service by 2006 or 2007, and some carriers have started working together to develop an even faster technology, dubbed Super 3G.

Meanwhile, a technology standard was recently established for WiMAX, a sort of souped-up wireless signal that provides broadband Internet access across several miles. This alternative to cable modem and DSL connections is especially attractive in rural communities, where running new wires is costprohibitive. A future incarnation of the new technology known as mobile Wi- MAX will likely have greater impact in urban and business communities. Unlike standard WiMAX, which establishes a broadband connection at a fixed site, mobile WiMAX could blanket large areas and allow laptops, personal digital assistants, cell phones, and other mobile devices to log on anywhere a signal is picked up.

"Mobility is now a mission-critical app[lication]," says DeToffol. The benefits of being able to function outside of traditional location constraints range from attracting good employees to improving responsiveness to customers and partners to enabling quicker company expansions. A firm planning to open a new office can get going with just one employee working from home, well before its new permanent facility is ready. Such functionality is no longer a novelty or convenience, it's a fundamental element of running a successful, growing business. "Your sales force, your knowledge workers that hold the keys to the intellectual kingdom, those people need to be reachable," says DeToffol. "If you are not tied to your location, having an IP-enabled device is crucial."

As the wireless paths to IP networks become faster and more widely available, organizations will find new ways to profit from this technology. "Some brainstorming needs to be done to really get creative with these technologies," says Andersen. "Let's think about the way we do inventory, the way we enroll students in a college. Do I have to pull them into the campus, or get them to a Web site from their computer, or can I sign somebody up by scanning a business card with my cell phone? I don't think we've started to see the impact that untethering can give us on business processes. I think there is still a lot more change that can happen, and a lot more money to be made."

Scott Briggs is TCBM's "Power Tools" columnist.