| Abstract: | Ruggedized handheld device ties into PBX and wireless LAN systems so mobile plant workers can stay connected. |
| Keywords: | Wireless factory, wireless manufacturing |
Motorola Inc.’s Enterprise Mobility Solutions business this week announced a voice-over-Wireless LAN mobile smartphone designed to untether manufacturing engineers and other workers from their desk phones while providing both voice and data communications.
The Total Enterprise Access and Mobility (TEAM) VoWLAN product provides mobile access to PBX phone calls as well as e-mail, calendar/contact synchronization, text messaging, Internet/intranet access, and Windows Mobile 6.1 for line-of-business applications, to improve customer service, collaboration, and productivity, according to the company.
The total technology offering includes two servers in addition to the Windows Mobile VoWLAN smartphones. The Wireless Services Manager (WSM) server provides push-to-talk (PTT) services, text messaging, PBX interoperability, as well as mobility and security. The Network Services Manager (NSM) server provides central provisioning and management. The technology interoperates with most existing WLAN infrastructure technology, and the initial release supports selected IP and TDM PBXs from market leaders, Motorola said in a statement.
The rugged handheld device connects to PTT devices that plant workers may already carry, Russ Knister, senior director of business development, Enterprise Mobility Solutions, told Managing Automation in a briefing. The familiar form factor, modeled after cell phones, makes the device easy to use. Motorola is targeting primarily hourly workers, enabling them to receive phone or two-way radio calls, text messages, and other data while they are walking around the plant, away from their desks. The unit’s battery is said to offer nine hours of continuous talk time, spanning an entire shift.
Knister noted that the product should appeal to “mid-sized and large locations” with many workers. Though companies may be unwilling to purchase cell phone service for so many workers, Motorola anticipates they will be interested in the VoWLAN smartphones, which list at approximately $500 per device. The two server-based software packages sell for $1,500 together, with the server hardware sold separately.
For many manufacturers, there’s a benefit to having a voice channel to go along with the data channel, said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates, who pointed to the integration with the PBX as a unique feature of the Motorola offering. “It’s nice to have four-digit dialing when you’re wandering around,” he told Managing Automation. Companies considering replacing desk phones might see this as an option, he added. Nevertheless, he noted, many companies will have to update their wireless LANs in order to use the devices. “So it’s not free. If voice is important to your business, then it’s probably worth the investment,” he said.
Motorola plans a future release that will be dual-mode — VoWLAN and cellular — and will extend services to other voice-capable Motorola devices, including computers and bar code scanners. Gold said the dual-mode concept might have greater appeal because “it will work wherever you go. A lot of companies have people out and about all day.”
Motorola is tapping into a growing market as companies adopt wireless LAN networks. Frost & Sullivan has predicted that the North American market for enterprise VoWLAN devices will grow from $110.5 million in 2007 to $2.15 billion in 2014.
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