MikeHansen
on - last edited on
Data collection has come a long way!
Wireless Technology announcements tend to focus these days on network speeds and cloud services. This is for good reason – it is the availability of data and applications that is most important to our customers.
Intermec ruggedized mobile handheld products serve as the mobile aggregator for data collection allowing customers to access data and services that best match of their preferences and environment at any time and from anywhere!
Blog followers have read this before but it is worth repeating - Intermec Technologies products allow for data connectivity at all levels of the Wireless Ecosystem; be that Cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth and short range wireless.
Let’s take a look at a new capability in wireless connectivity now available in the Intermec 70 series computers; Flexible Network ™ Radio based on GOBI 3000.
Not that long ago (OK, maybe not that long ago for some) enabling a new radio type into a product meant integrating new dedicated hardware. The reason being is that radio architectures were highly dedicated hardware circuits managing RF, Baseband, and modulation operations.
In the 1990s researcher Joe Mitola coined the term software defined radio to differentiate the technology shift in radio architectures from being 80% hardware defined to 80% software defined. Since that time software (albeit through the use of high-speed hardware) has increasingly spanned the radio architecture from the data consuming user application side towards the electromagnetic radiating antenna. So what is the big deal of a software radio that mimics what hardware can already do? The value is in reconfiguration to a different type of radio on the fly. Now integrating a new radio can be as simple as loading new software.
In 2009 Intermec introduced the CN50, the industry’s first soft radio based ruggedized handheld computer. The CN50 with its Flexible Network ™ Radio and Connection Manager Software allowed customers to decouple their wide area network provider choice from the hardware they purchased. Software updates allow customers to dynamically change between AT&T and Verizon as they desired based on data cost, coverage, or performance. The CN50 set new ground in managing radio technologies!
The Intermec 70 Series now enters into the Flexible Network ™ Radio arena with the introduction of GOBI 3000 integration. My colleague Dennis Behrens, Director of Wireless Networking at Intermec states it this way:
“Customers need the option to choose their network provider as they work. The GOBI introduction with Flexible Network ™ Radio tools allows for software updates to GSM/UMTS/CDMA as required by the user of the handheld”.
The use of GOBI allows the network usage to be decoupled from the hardware. A typical usage has the customer subscribed to a primary network provider. However, if their operation takes them outside of primary coverage the 70 series can be reprogramed to use a secondary network as back-up. It may also be that a company’s IT department needs to have multiple network configurations available on a permanent basis due to deployment area. With Flexible Network ™ Radio the customer can purchase as single SKU of the 70 series and provision them as needed based on deployment. Or later change the radio for redeployment.
The 70 series is a family of ruggedized handhelds recently introduced by Intermec that covers both in premise warehousing and field mobility applications. The device features many trend setting options which now include Flexible Network ™ Radio. These features combine to ensure Intermec can provide data connectivity at any time and from anywhere!
Please feel free to comment back. I would enjoy getting your feedback on our wireless connectivity.
