The wireless manufacturing era has dawned. Freed from the yoke of wires, applications in production, asset management, field management, and safety are thriving alongside wireless office applications.
But for anyone who wished for a clear victor in the mix of wireless infrastructure standards competing for dominance, there's bad news. Despite the emergence of standards such as ISA100 for process industries, a unified wireless infrastructure for all types of manufacturing isn't happening any time soon (see sidebar). Manufacturers that want to take advantage of emerging wireless applications must cope with a variety of wireless infrastructure platforms, from cellular, to wireless LAN, to WiMAX.
But there's good news. Despite the heterogeneity of the wireless environment, manufacturers can knit together a solid wireless infrastructure without much difficulty, likely with the help of a vendor or service provider.
"There is still a lot of ambiguity" surrounding wireless standards, says Ric Hall, systems architect and distinguished systems engineer for network architecture, EDS Global Network Engineering. Sometimes called "follow-me connectivity" or "session continuity"— seamless wireless connectivity that spans protocols, carriers, geographical boundaries, and applications — is still not readily available.