How much of your potential profits are lost in wasted time as your staff try to reach call-outs through ever increasing traffic congestion? How many times have you sat in a jam, aware that an early warning would have allowed you to take an alternative route and achieve your planned service level? How many times have you noticed that the travel information from different sources is inconsistent, and that many local RDS radio stations continue to report congestion long after it has cleared? Well, help, and increased efficiency may be at hand as a Highways Agency initiative, the Travel Information Highway (TIH), to share traffic congestion data takes shape.

The challenges in any multi agency data sharing initiative are the need for common terminology and well documented data formats. The other is that the data is carefully managed, as it must be trusted by the motorist as current and accurate. Poor data can cause as many problems as the systems using it were intended to solve, so various groups, including MCUG, are now involved in developing this to a workable service.

The end result must be a reliable source of data that can be integral to your mobile workers support systems. A visit to http://www.tih.org.uk gives more information, or an email to library@mcug.org.uk will get you a PDF of the TIH’s latest newsletter. MCUG members and associates who wish to be more actively involved in this initiative should contact mail@mcug.org.uk to see how you can both contribute and benefit.

Untangling the wires

I recently criticised Bluetooth systems as remaining difficult to manage and set up, especially for devices that are not from the same stable.  Mobile workers could benefit greatly from the reduction in interconnecting cables that Bluetooth has always promised - if only it were as easy as USB.  This weakness, and the relative simplicity of installing most USB devices, has at last prompted some soul searching in the industry, and the formation of the Wireless USB Promoter Group. (W-USB) The group comprises major suppliers and has recently specified plug and play USB Bluetooth devices that should configure easily. The snag with current Bluetooth is that the data rate is very low when compared with USB cables (700 Kb/s as opposed to the 11 (or 400) Mb/s of USB) To achieve cable speeds the W-USB group has also re-specified the wireless interface. The new specification covers working over a short range but at cable speeds whilst attended to pairing and security concerns. Connection distances are typically three metres, so this is strictly a cable replacement technology. W-USB devices are expected later in 2006, so prepare to say goodbye to the knitting.

WiMax – WiWhat?

Many MCUG members have depended on thick clients to deliver bulky service data such as manuals, where CD-ROM or hard disks have the capacity necessary to save expensive and slow data downloads. Poor wireless coverage, low data rates and high cost kept the CD as an attractive media option. The emergence of press reports on a new wireless technology (WiMax) and the suggestions of amazing distances for coverage and better-than-broadband data rates conjured up the vision of cheap ubiquitous coverage, and an end to data distribution problems. Why pay by the megabyte for GPRS or 3g data when the country is about to become one big WiMax hot spot? Why indeed. As usual, the truth, for the end user is not quite so Uutopian.  WiMax (or IEEE 802.16) covers a set of technical options for wireless data distribution, it is not ‘a system’ as such, but a specification for a set of closely related systems. These systems can work in different ways, for different purposes, and on different wireless bands. A WiMax system can be developed and configured to deliver a point to point connection over, say, 50 km between offices. Alternatively, a mobile or metropolitan WiMax solution may be built to deliver broadband-like service to many users over a few kilometres. Just like current WiFi hot spots, or mobile telephones, it will need infrastructure, transmitters and antennas. What’s more – it will probably need operators and government licences for the frequencies it will use. As WiMax emerges it may well provide a competitive  and faster alternative to the data-over-3G that the phone companies now offer, however it probably won’t be a ‘one size fits all’ where you can purchase a cheap WiFi access point box such as the ones you presently buy at the local computer dealers and then set up your own system. For the time being, for good national coverage with modest data rates GPRS remains the best show in town unless, of course, you live or work next door to a McDonalds or Starbucks.

Conferences and Exhibitions

Mobile is now a trendy word and the number of good (and bad) events with mobile or mobility in their name grows ever longer. This year, so far, MCUG will be directly involved with three large events each of which you should find interesting.  Firstly we have the Enterprise Mobility Week, on the 3rd-5th of April in Amsterdam. (www.enterprisemobilityweek.com) Plenty of practical papers from end users in the UK and Europe, and a very interactive format have made the previous events extremely interesting, and this year’s programme is no exception. (MCUG member/associate discounts apply) a 20 minute hotel bus ride will whiz you there from your Easy Jet at Schipol Airport.

In London Olympia we have The Wireless Event (www.thewirelessevent.com) on the 17th and 18th of May where MCUG are cooperating with the free seminar programme of information and case studies, a good chance to look at new things wireless, and relate them directly to mobile working applications. In the Autumn MCUG is again attending and participating in the seminar programme for the Service Management Europe event at the NEC on the 18th and 19th October (www.servicemanagement.co.uk) here the focus is on the tools and technologies you will need to deliver excellence in customer service.

For a more general overview of internet-driven business technology there is Internet World at Earls Court on the 9th, 11th May (www.internetworld.co.uk) Or, why not just visit www.mcug.org.uk and follow the links?