Wireless Applications and Technology Directions

by Stephanie Neil, Managing Automation Editorial Staff

There are many reasons for manufacturers to consider deploying wireless technologies and applications inside and outside the plant. Vendors tout everything from improved productivity, to cost savings, to real-time visibility into processes.

But there is a lot to consider before taking the plunge.

First, there’s the network infrastructure. Do you need a sensor-based mesh network, RFID, WiFi, WiMax, or simply cellular? Depending upon which wireless route you take, network access points may need to be installed and managed. And the IT department must select and manage the hardware, in the form of user devices, such as industrial computers and handheld smart phones. But that’s not all.

The wireless applications must also be selected or developed and deployed. And, when it comes to applications, there are plenty of options from which to choose. If the problem you’re trying to solve involves accessing information in the plant, automation software vendors such as Wonderware (an Invensys Operations Management company), Emerson Process Management, and Honeywell Process Solutions can get you started by helping to set up the wireless infrastructure and, in some cases, providing the handheld devices through partners such as Motorola and Intermec.

If, however, the problem is outside the plant — for example, in the sales department — there are vendors with very specific wireless customer relationship management (CRM) applications and/or middleware. They are proficient at training your team in how to move back-end applications out to a mobile workforce. Among those vendors are Maximizer Software, SAP and its partner Syclo LLC, and Sybase.And, when it comes to managing it all, there are specialty vendors for that, too, including Psion Teklogix, Rivermine, and Sybase.

That’s a wide array of choices, indeed. Fortunately for manufacturers that may not want to become experts in wireless technologies themselves, telecommunications carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have begun to bundle wireless services and applications, with the help of partners.“In the last 18 months, we’ve shifted away from just selling a solution to becoming an enabler and a partner with multiple developers” to add value for the customer, says Charnsin Tulyasathien, Sprint’s Mobile Business Solutions group manager.

For example, Sprint’s customers are asking for help in setting up wireless data networks for in-building communications, as well as building out mobile applications that will take advantage of the airwaves. Sprint partners with companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Nortel, and Cisco to deliver such offerings as voice-over-IP and managed services that enable unified communications.

Similarly, AT&T’s mobile platform strategy encompasses its wireless third-generation (3G) data network and mobile middleware, as well as about 100 applications, developed on its own or with partners, that deliver industry-specific solutions for the industrial, automotive, aerospace, and petrochemical segments, among others. For example, in a production environment, AT&T’s cellular 3G coverage, at speeds of about 3.6Mbps, can be used to build a wireless LAN that supports in-building unified voice communications and data applications, including asset management; maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) management; and workforce management.

At the same time, all of the major carriers are planning fourth-generation networks that will deliver faster speeds and enable new applications.

Sprint’s recent partnership with Turnpike Technologies and Qualcomm offers a very specific example of how a telecommunications carrier can provide a turnkey solution. Earlier this year, the trio rolled out RouteTracker, a portable tracking device that acts as a low-cost fleet management system. RouteTracker uses an electronic on-board recorder mounted in trucks, along with a Bluetooth-based handset that enables drivers to record and report fuel usage as required by the recently enacted International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), as well as to create and send Web-based operations reports used for fleet management back to headquarters.

Managing Information

Other vendors are offering applications that target processes on the plant floor and beyond. Wonderware’s IntelaTrac is a critical component of the “operator-driven reliability” concept that many manufacturers in the process industries are adopting. The idea is that efficient operations have more to do with equipment reliability and availability of assets than after-the-fact maintenance.

“Operators can always break it faster than maintenance can fix it,” says Charles Mohrmann, vice president of sales at Wonderware Mobile Solutions.

IntelaTrac, which is a software program that can push best practices and procedures out to a handheld device, is evolving with new applications designed to increase the reliability of operations by driving information to the end user. Wonderware says its new IntelaTrac Dynamic Procedures capability changes instructions and procedures as business conditions change. In the oil industry, for example, a storm brewing at sea might require manufacturers to push information about preparedness procedures to engineers in order to secure oil rigs.

While IntelaTrac provides a plant-based solution, Syclo does something similar for processes that take place outside the plant.

Syclo’s Smart Mobile Suite addresses areas such as asset management, inventory, scheduling, sales, and CRM. Syclo’s Agentry technology is a development framework that enables information to flow from back-end systems and databases to mobile devices. The idea is to push the appropriate information from IBM’s Maximo EAM application or SAP’s CRM system, for example, to an offsite road warrior using a handheld, laptop, or smart phone.

“We have intelligent workflows that guide workers through what they need to do with drop-down menus for things like parts, failure codes, and calculations,” says Joe Granda, Syclo executive vice president of marketing. “If you have better data, you work smarter in the field.”

CRM is a particularly important mobile enterprise application because, by providing up-to-the-minute customer history to field service people on the road, it allows manufacturers to increase customer satisfaction, which brings revenue opportunities. For that reason, Syclo and SAP announced a co-innovation agreement earlier this year to extend SAP CRM to the Syclo Smart Mobile Suite.

Meanwhile, Maximizer Software, a CRM vendor for small and medium-sized businesses, also has made its application mobile. Specifically, the company designed a clean and simple interface that can be viewed via any micro-browser that ships on any smart phone.

The Maximizer application can be customized to a specific business, but mainstream functions such as calendaring, contact lists, maps, and e-mail are also available. While those are seemingly simple capabilities, they can increase productivity. For example, if a salesperson has 45 minutes of downtime, the mapping function can be used to find out whether a customer is near enough for an impromptu visit.

Ultimately, having the right application to do the work — and solve a problem — is what will make mobility a valuable business proposition.

“We do have to give a nod to e-mail as the first line-of-business application to get value out of the smart phone,” says Will Anderson, executive vice president of technology at Maximizer Software. “But e-mail was the first generation of business applications on the phone. Now we are onto the second wave.”

Managing the Infrastructure

While Wonderware and Syclo manage the content that is pushed to the end user, other programs, such as Psion Teklogix’s Mobile Control Center (MCC) and Sybase’s Afaria, manage the mobile devices themselves.

MCC is deployed on a centralized PC, but it is used to monitor and control devices all over the world via LAN, WAN, or cellular networks. The software can remotely monitor, troubleshoot, upgrade, and fix devices, including Psion’s own rugged handhelds and any other device, via a Windows interface. In the latest version of the software, released this summer, location services have been added, allowing GPS-based devices to be located and tracked in real time.

Companies need to know where their devices are at all times in order to reduce or respond to the risk of loss or theft. “If an individual loses a device, we can shut down the device so it is useless to anyone,” says Ron Caines, Psion’s president of worldwide sales.

Sybase’s Afaria Management and Security system offers similar capabilities. Afaria is a function within the company’s mobile enterprise suite, which includes iAnywhere Mobile Office, a middleware application that extends e-mail and business processes to wireless devices. Afaria includes a backup manager that archives frontline workers’ critical business data, a configuration manager that ensures that required connection settings are enforced, a document manager that delivers updates for content and data files to the devices, and an inventory management feature that tracks all frontline systems, from PDAs, to laptops, to point of sale, to handheld systems.

According to Senthil Krishnapillai, director of product management for enterprise mobility at Sybase, securing enterprise devices requires a multi-pronged approach. So, aside from encrypting data, the Sybase software turns a mobile phone into an intelligent device that, if not connected for a certain period of time, wipes clean potentially sensitive data.

Managing mobile devices also requires staying on top of the telecommunications plans that connect them. To that end, Rivermine’s Telecom Expense Management is an application that analyzes carrier invoices, auditing them to make sure customers are paying only for what they should be paying, and reviewing usage to ensure that the best rate plan is applied.

The tool helps manage what can be a truly unruly process. “Oftentimes, employees bring in their own device and want to hook up to the corporate plan. This mix of managing corporate and individual devices is a complex situation,” says John Shea, Rivermine’s chief marketing officer. If too many individuals start submitting expense reports because they are not on the corporate plan, suddenly telecom costs are spiraling out of control because there is no visibility into usage, Shea says. “The reason [companies] come to us is because we can save them between 20% and 40% of their wireless expense,” he says.

SIDEBAR: 4G Force: The Second Wave

Manufacturers will soon have everything, from streaming video, to videoconferencing, to 3D graphics, at their fingertips.

With AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all in various stages of rolling out their fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks, which will bring WiMax broadband speeds into mobile users’ hands, manufacturers will soon have everything, from streaming video, to videoconferencing, to 3D graphics, at their fingertips.

Sprint 4G, offering speeds up to 10 Mbps, is already available in Baltimore, with 14 new markets planned by next year. AT&T, too, is designing its 4G infrastructure to be ready to start rolling out in 2011. And Verizon recently announced that it will test its Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G networks in Seattle and Boston later this year, with commercial launches to follow in 30 markets in 2010.

Verizon’s latest announcement that it will partner with Qualcomm, a provider of M2M technologies, on a joint venture, however, may mean the most to manufacturers. The agreement calls for the two to deliver machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications and smart services leveraging 4G speeds to provide customers with a single source for end-to-end M2M solutions, the companies say.

Intelligent sensors communicating over the Verizon network via the Qualcomm APIs could be used to monitor an oil pipeline or to measure chemical tank levels, for example. The infrastructure will also enable aftermarket services providing industrial equipment vendors with new revenue sources.

Verizon’s LTE 4G network is an important element in the “always-on” connectivity to assets that Qualcomm’s technology platform enables. With 4G, “you do get speed, but you also get better coverage in buildings and in manufacturing plants. That is a big deal for end-to-end solutions,” says Steve Pazol, president of the new joint venture, the name of which is yet to be determined.