May/June 2004

Connecting mobile workers to the body corporate can seem complex, but it's getting easier, and mobile computer makers are becoming increasingly involved. Sharon Clancy picks up her occasional series of beginners' guides

Deciding which is the fastest, most secure, most reliable and most cost-effective way of connecting mobile workers and their wireless devices into the corporate body is one of biggest challenges companies will face over the next few years. As the number of mobile devices grows, so does the challenge of integrating them seamlessly into the company as a whole.

Partly this is because the profile of the typical mobile worker is changing fast. Once mobile computing mostly meant high-flying sales executives or field managers with the patience and inclination to play around with connections from their notebooks or PDAs.

These days it is just as likely to be service engineers and delivery drivers Ð people who can't necessarily tell their GPS from their GPRS (and don't want to), and for whom the wireless device simply replaces paper as a means of getting the job done. Connecting these mobile workers into the corporate LAN (local area network) needs to be seamless, trouble-free and reliable.

 

That's why integration is one of today's buzz words Ð although it can have a broader or narrower meaning. Integration gives mobile workers the same real-time access to corporate databases as they would if they were in the office. In this it is the same as middleware applications, acting as a buffer between the corporate LAN and the mobile device, although not necessarily in real time.

Middleware servers usually sit alongside a corporate server. It converts corporate data files into formats acceptable to various mobile devices, verifies the integrity of the data being sent and received, and "polices" access to the enterprise LAN. Many command and control applications are, in effect, dynamic middleware, pushing jobs out to engineers, couriers and other mobile workers and managing the data as it returns in real time.

Integration servers are quite often hosted servers, with all the data going via the application providers' own hub. All the users need is an Internet connection, which is why such solutions are proving popular with smaller businesses. This way you don't need a corporate IT department to get the same real-time benefits that bigger companies enjoy.

Integration applications now also provide valuable procedures to manage wireless devices automatically. Capabilities range from checking Wi-Fi security encryption to providing simultaneous application updates to all affected mobiles on the network.

Partnerships

You cannot integrate on your own, and the traditional middleware vendors such as Mnetics and Xcellenet face competition from the partnerships that are springing up between ERP supply-chain vendors and the handheld manufacturers. Out-of-the-box scaleable solutions are the name of the game in today's integration market, which is why companies such as Three X are now marketing end-to-end applications such as Transmart.

With the trend to integrating transport and delivery into the supply chain, partnerships give the handheld computer companies useful clout. In return, the ERP companies get access to a wider potential customer base. LXE and Psion Teklogix, for example, are both partners to Cisco Systems, which is hoping the two handheld specialists will broaden its customer base.

"This new go-to-market channel model will help Cisco enter new vertical markets such as warehousing and distribution and other advanced technology markets that we traditionally haven't focused on," says Edison Peres, vice president of Advanced Technologies, Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems.

Psion Teklogix has developed a specific solution for companies using SAP's mySAP.com the e-business platform. TekRF is dedicated interface software for SAP R/3 and mySAP.com operating on a local Microsoft SQL Server 2000 data base.

So what does all that mean? Well, the device user initiates a "process sequence", after which TekRF handles all subsequent operations, automatically selecting the correct protocol. Any TekRF transaction can be presented to a variety of devices Ð for instance, to a Web browser via HTML/XML, to a mobile phone via WAP, or to an industrial terminal using Psion Teklogix' TESS protocol. Another application, TEKConsole, enhances SAP Console by web-enabling it.

The holy grail of wireless integration, of course, is seamless roaming, and computer manufacturer Itronix claims to be able to offer this with its Mobility XE software, which is aimed at those workers who roam the building as well as those who roam the country. Itronix says Mobility XE turns a multi-network environment of enterprise LANs, wireless LANs, dial-up or WWANS into a single, unified network.

There are two components here: a lightweight client, which is installed on every wireless terminal (notebook, PDA or handheld terminal); and server software, which acts as a "proxy" to enterprise application servers. You don't have to change existing enterprise applications, hardware or networks because Mobility XE works with all standards-based wireless hardware.

This provides centralised control, and with it the ability to establish detailed rules to control application-level traffic. For example, managers can control airtime costs by centrally managing and limiting GPRS airtime to specific areas such as a despatch application, access to a group of intranet Web sites, and instant messaging to improve intra-workforce communications. All other applications are required to have a broadband connection via the corporate LAN or WLAN (wide-area LAN). Itronix says this alone can save over 50 per cent in GPRS airtime costs compared with an unlimited-use rate.

The software is transparent; clients appear to have a single, persistent connection and fixed IP address (numeric Internet address). Applications don't have to be rewritten because the software enables any IP-based application to maintain a continuous, secure connection. Users no longer have to worry about logging on, re-launching applications and retrieving lost data. Itronix says installation takes hours rather than days .

Another portable computer manufacturer, Intermec, offers a system based on its Gateway and G4000 Server Appliance, which is built around Microsoft's Windows 2000 Server technology. The system has a range of management capabilities including Web-based remote management, device discovery, FTP, Telnet and remote desktop. The Gateway supports various wireless systems from narrow-band to Wi-Fi (802.11b).

This ability to connect to a wide range of networks and applications is a key benefit, Intermec says. Its "automated fallback" feature ensures that mission-critical applications continue to operate when essential components are isolated, keeping the enterprise automatic data collection systems up and running.

end-to-end solution

In May, Symbol relaunched its mobility management application as Mobility Services Suite, which now offers a complete end-to-end enterprise mobility solution, including server accessibility from the Internet. The suite increases the visibility of mobile devices and enhances wireless network performance, and also helps IT administrators identify and resolve problems before they occur.

Two key components are Mobility Services Platform and Mobility Services Agents. The "platform" part is a piece of rack-mountable computer hardware that provides server-side control of deployments. This communicates with "agents" resident on all Symbol mobile devices and systems. The agents collect monitoring and asset information for the system in order to allow better control over applications, devices and networks. There is also a component called MSS Studio for application developers.

Once upon a time, automatic integration of PC applications and data sharing between programs was a rarity. Now it is often seamless. It looks as though mobile devices are heading the same way. Soon we won't be asking what method to use to connect our wireless devices to the office; this, too, will happen seamlessly thanks to some clever background IT Ð stuff the majority of us will not need to trouble our heads about.