Over the past several years, AT&T and Sprint Nextel, two of the largest voice and data carriers, have been building out their manufacturing practices to create end-to-end networks that span both wired and wireless worlds. The reasons: the need to manage remote workers and dispersed equipment, the need for flexibility on the factory floor, and the need for instantaneous communication.
"Our vision of the factory of the future is wireless," says Butch Musselman, Sprint Nextel's vice president of industry business solutions. And it's technologies such as WiMAX that may provide the breakthrough that will move manufacturers in this direction, he adds.
WiMAX is a high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-latency wireless network, based on the IEEE 802.16 standard. It is about five times faster than today's 3G wireless networks. Sprint Nextel is working with Intel, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Clearwire, and even Google to create a mobile ecosystem of chips, products, software, and high-speed Internet services. Later this year, Sprint Nextel plans to launch its mobile WiMAX network in the Chicago and Baltimore areas, with additional markets to follow in 2008.
WiMAX contains multiple layers of security and is capable of supporting streaming video, a potential benefit for manufacturing, according to Musselman. "A lot of organizations have people retiring and they are losing skill sets," he says. "Imagine a camera on a hard hat ... or the ability to retain people working remotely from their homes, who, through streaming video, could train new employees within the manufacturing environment."
Aside from faster, better, more secure technology, wireless' business value can be found in overall architecture management. Any wireless deployment must be an extension of the enterprise LAN. And that often requires the help of a partner.
"The important thing to think about is having the right network, the right device, and the right application," says Igor Glubochansky, AT&T's director of industry solutions, mobility. However, "where the make or break [typically] comes in is in the ability to manage the deployment," he says.
Wireless carriers have traditionally not been well-positioned to help, as their focus in the past was on providing consumer services, Glubochansky says. Today, however, AT&T has a mobility service that includes consulting to analyze business processes in order to identify where real-time communications will improve operations. The company also offers wireless workshops.
Similarly, Sprint Nextel's Custom Network Solutions group has helped more than 100 manufacturers move to wireless and deliver mobile applications ranging from telemetry to SCADA and remote control.
And even with wireless advancements coming, Musselman says, manufacturers shouldn't discount the advantages that the most basic devices offer. An example is Nextel's direct-connect walkie-talkie type product that provides immediate communication in the plant or field.
It's just a matter of finding the right mobility solution for each manufacturing need, say both AT&T and Sprint Nextel. The carriers can help.
"We are a strategic partner to deliver the right products, services, and solutions that address manufacturers' needs and requirements," Sprint Nextel's Musselman says.