On the Move Computing-Technologies that Enable Mobility

On the move computing is fast becoming a reality, thanks to ongoing developments across a range of technologies. Here we analyze the key mobility enablers

Friday, May 05, 2006

The picture that traditionally comes to mind when you hear the word 'mobility' with reference to the enterprise is an executive working on a laptop, over wireless. This is not what the case and we brought it out last month in our story on strategies in enterprise mobility, in which we defined two kinds of mobile users-the road warrior and the roaming user-and discussed what each of them should be able to do. This time, we take that line of thought further and examine the actual technologies that make it possible for roaming users and road warriors to exist and be productive. We have a lot happening in this area, with all aspects of being 'mobile' progressing rapidly. At the same time, a lot of tech has matured and its implementations are on the rise-but are any changes coming in, because of such trends? Before we step into the details of each technology, let's quickly take a bird's eye view of what's currently hot and what will be there in the near future.

What's hot?
We have new fundamentals in security with the 802.11i (WPA2), then we have proposals that want to speed up Bluetooth transmissions, add more punch to wireless in the form of the much talked about WiMAX and enable multimedia (WiMEDIA). WiMAX today is more or less a matured technology. The standards that enable WiMAX are well understood. The reason it is still in the news is because of the number of WiMAX deployments that are happening with implementors considering metro-wide wireless connectivity using it. The third generation of wireless communications (3G) has yet to take off in our country; but already there are talks of the fourth generation wireless (4G) doing the rounds, with an implementation time frame of the next 10 to 15 years.  The much talked about high-throughput wireless standard-802.11n-may be finally on its way with the drafts being in the ballot stage as of February. It still remains to be seen what will happen to the pre-N products already out. Also, undergoing improvements are the devices themselves in the form of speed and responsiveness. Handhelds and notebook computers are also improving in data storage reliability with the inclusion of physical protective technologies like motion-sensitive drive arms, shock absorbers and the like.

What's around the corner?
The race for higher bandwidth everywhere is sure hotting up in all forms of wireless: with the WiMAX and Ns of the computer world and the 3rd and 4th generations of the cellular world. What is really needed on  ground next, are the devices that need and can process information at this rate.

What is also needed, are applications for the high throughput, robust wireless networks of tomorrow. Sure, we have IPTV, VoIP and high-speed wireless Internet access on the move (100 Mbps in a car traveling 80 mph did they say?). But what else can you do with it? Not everyone is going to be watching IPTV or making remote conferencing calls from a cellphone.

But if your device has the technology, you would want to do something more with it. According to atleast one leading wireless products vendor, the major 'high' wireless technologies (like 802.11n) that are streaming in today are only fit to be used at the backbone infrastructure level and not really at the end user's terminal.

We also look forward to standardization of what 'mobile' means. Today, that much bandied about phrase can mean anything from a notebook computer to a cellular phone to a PDA. This may lend itself very well to the implementation of ubiquitous computing, but where does that lead developers of mobile applications? There is no one standardized way to write applications that will work equally well on each of these devices. Nor is there much of an interoperability between applications written for different vendor-platforms. Especially in the field of handheld computing, the buyer is locked down to applications written for the vendor of his device. Sure there are platform-abstracting platforms (Java and .NET for instance), but even with those, factors like screen sizes,  different types of interface elements (buttons and joysticks and so forth) can demand a lot of dynamic reconfiguring of the application before it can be used properly by a user.

Mobility therefore is a happening area, with lots of new technologies entering the landscape and existing ones maturing very quickly and moving into the production phases. How many will finally be successful remains to be seen. But atleast we can prepare ourselves by knowing about them. Let's dive right in.

Wireless technologies
Everything from the IEEE standards (802.11n, 802.11i) through UWB, WPA2, 4G, 3GPP, WiMedia, wireless switches to mobile VoIP are here and making waves. So, those who say it's buzz need to change their definitions.

Metroscale WiFi with WiMAX
WiFi is growing from just being hotspots endemic to a small area to becoming metroscale WiFi that would blanket the dimensions of an entire city. The technology behind metro-scale Wi-Fi is of course WiMAX, with its range of about 50 Kms and a bandwidth of 75 Mbps (over regular 802.11a/b/g with a maximum of 54 Mbps). Metro-sized Wi-Fi networks would offer cellular-like connectivity at a higher speed and bandwidth. Chipmaker Intel is working on several projects with Indian ISPs like BSNL, Reliance, AirTel and Navini Networks to set up public Internet hotspots throughout the country. ISP Sify is also considering similar WiMAX projects.

IMS marries 3G
With the merger of two successful paradigms in communications-IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystems) and 3G-you will be able to access Internet for Web-pages of your choice, participate in video conferences, watch a movie nearly anywhere by just pulling out a 3G hand-held device from your pocket. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data. One of the killer applications of 3G is video telephony. With the next generation 3G devices, you can achieve data transfer rates of upto 3 Mbps. Some telecom providers in India have already initiated their efforts in offering services using this technology. 

IMS is a VoIP implementation based on a 3GPP implementation of SIP that runs over standard IP networks. Its use of regular IP for communication makes it useful for use over both voice and Internet networks. The current version of IMS supports GSM, GPRS, fixed and mobile circuits, including WLANs. Eventually, it is aimed to make IMS work with almost any networking technology in existence including DSL and cable networks.

To 4G
3G devices have already seen the light of the day in countries like Japan , US. And now, there is 4G on the cards. 4G technology stands to be the future standard of Wi-Fi devices. The Japanese company NTT DoCoMo is testing 4G communication at 100 Mbps (moving) and 1 Gbps (stationary). 4G may use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), and also OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) to better allocate network resources to multiple users. 4G devices may use SDR (Software-Defined Radio) receivers that allows better use of available bandwidth and the use of multiple channels simultaneously.

Internet telephony over mobiles
Leave your network and swoosh....goes your Internet! This is what most mobile executives face today. Internet Telephony over mobiles or Mobile IP, is a scalable mechanism that allows organizations to offer their customers seamless roaming among wireless networks anywhere.

It supports applications such as IP telephony, media streaming and VPN without interrupting service when you roam. The market already has Skype offering VoIP with Wi-Fi enabled smartphones. The Nokia 6136 uses UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology to provide access to GSM services over unlicensed spectrum technologies like WLAN and Bluetooth.  More such solutions are on the way in the next few years for those who use any cellphone with Internet capabilities.

How it operates
A mobile IP network comprises a mobile node, a home and foreign agent (optional) besides the Internet. When a device leaves a network to enter a new one, the home agent taps the data signals and tunnels it through a temporary IP address to the target network. The foreign agent or the network itself unpacks and forwards data packets to the mobile node.

Wireless Standards-Shooting exponentially

Single Signon- Felicity with FeLiCa A multi-use, multi-application technology from Sony, FeLiCa uses contactless-ICs to transfer information in its memory to a compatible device that can read or write information to it. This can be used with everyday gadgets like smart cards, cellphones and wrist watches. Common uses of such devices are to dispense mobile money. However, it can be used to provide access control and ID services as well. How it works This smart card technology is IEC 15408 EAL4 certified, making it usable in high security zones as well. FeLiCa uses a 13.56 MHz electromagnetic signal to communicate with the reader/writer at 212 Kbps. There is no requirement for a sub-carrier to multiplex or piggyback the signal to other frequencies. Transactions between the IC and the reader/writer are carried out in 100 msec. Communications between the two devices are encrypted using dynamically generated keys. The IC uses a filing system that uses a single smart card  for multiple independent applications. Access keys protect each application's data on the IC from cross-access. But you could program a system to read credit information and credentials to provide access to some service (like ticketing). The Indian angle It is used by Delhi 's metro rail for smart ticketing as coin-shaped tokens valid for a single journey, and a 'Travel Card' rechargeable with mobile money.

Hardware
Mobile computing devices are undergoing continuous and fascinating changes, and becoming smaller, sleeker, more powerful and capacious. Gone are the days when a handheld came with a few KB of RAM and ran simplistic personal organizer applications. While these still exist today, at the other end, they can do almost everything that your PC can and use a CPU more powerful than the one in your workstation, and use a fraction of the power. They also provide features we take for granted (like instant-on).

For notebooks
Two key platforms have emerged for notebooks-the Intel Centrino and AMD's Turion. Neither of them are 'CPU's. They are platforms. They consist of the chipset, wireless subsystem and main processor used in a notebook, along with being energy efficient. As far as the Centrino is concerned, the exact specifications of the model numbers and combinations acceptable are specified. This specification has changed over the years since its first introduction, with the introduction of the Montara, Sonoma and Napa (dual core) platforms in successive years. The Montara was the first Centrino, from 2003 to 2005. It used the Pentium M with the Intel 855 chipset and the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100AB. Then came the Sonoma (Pentium M 133/533 MHz), the Intel Mobile 915 Express chipset motherboard and the PRO/Wireless 2200 or 2915 wireless capability. Compared to the original Montara platform, the Sonoma Centrino has poorer battery life, because of the power hungry PCI Express and fast Pentium M CPUs.

The Napa platform (dual core) is the latest in the series and it introduces the 'Centrino Duo' label from January 2006 and uses the new Yonah processor with the 945 Express and Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG. Instead of the SpeedStep power management system, the newer spec uses 'Enhanced Deeper Sleep' mode with 'Dynamic Power Coordination' (jargon for the separated performance and battery configuration in the new Centrino). Graphics is with Intel GMA 950. Intel's CPU line up for dual core two models: the T and the L series. The T series is for the mainstream notebooks and the L series will address the voltage-sensitive ultra light notebook range. Turion 64 is the AMD version of the power-saving platform for the notebook computer. It is a 64-bit platform using the Socket 754 motherboard. Battery efficiency comes in the form of AMD's PowerNow! with Cooln'Quiet. The dual core edition of the Turion is called the Turion 64 X2. AMD's PowerNow! technology is used in their K6-2+, K6-III+, Athlon and Opteron range of mobile CPUs to automatically reduce processor speed and power consumption to match actual demands in order to save electrical power (similar to Intel's SpeedStep and 'Dynamic Power Coordination' technologies). Cooln'Quiet was introduced for the Athlon 64 along the same lines as PowerNow!, and is meant for desktop systems.

This, in combination with other power-saving technologies like Deeper Sleep lets the user run more applications at optimized power levels saving battery life while enjoying powerful applications at their fingertips. These new CPUs also feature various levels of virus protection by locking up the 'data' areas of the in-processor memory from unauthorized execution. This is called 'Enhanced Virus Protection' by AMD and 'XD' (Execute Disable Bit) by Intel. 

Ultra portables
These are almost PDA size computers that feature the full range of computing experience, along with 'anytime anywhere' connectivity using wireless and Bluetooth. Like the PDA, these portables bundle a selection of productivity, entertainment, communication and messaging and PIM software. Various vendors have products in this category: Intel (UMPC), MS ('Origami'), Fujitsu, Samsung and ASUS.

Samsung's UMPC offers broadband and multimedia over high-speed wireless

Mobile SATA 
Why shouldn't notebook computers take advantage of SATA technology? Hard drive manufacturers now have SATA and SATA-II drives out in the market that can let you have hardware RAID on your notebooks utilizing the SATA  adapter's native RAID features. While these hard disks are available in the standard sizes of 40-80 GB, high end versions that top 200 GB are available too, at speeds of 7,200 rpm. Such hard disks give you the power and performance of a RAID-protected storage, letting you enjoy better performance of data and applications. You can also trust more data to the notebook's storage without worrying about recovering data from the hard drive later.

ARM, StrongARM and XScale
The ARM architecture is a 32-bit RISC based processor designed for all kinds of portable devices, including cellphones, PDAs and other computing devices. It's also the preferred CPU used in the embedded space. It has come a long way from the initial Acorn processor of the 1980s and the StrongARM that DEC created out of it and handed over to Intel who now call it the XScale. XScale CPU has five editions, depending on where and why it is used. The cellular family is used in cellphones and handhelds, while the Control Plane family is used in media gateways, VoIP switches and networking equipment. The I/O and network families take up the corresponding operations from the main CPU, clearing performance bottlenecks.  These CPUs deliver 500 to 800 Mhz of speed with a 64-bit bus width. These processors can handle 1 to 2 GB (even DDRII) RAM.

Notebooks like this Panasonic ToughBook can withstand a lot of punishment including people standing on it

i.MX and ColdFire
This family of processors designed for low-power (electrical) devices that require fast processing and are designed to deliver mobile multimedia performance (such as MPEG4 playback via wireless) along with spare processing power for other applications. The i.MX applications processor family is used in video and voice over IP (V2IP), media centers, handheld gaming devices. This CPU supports the OpenPDA platform and can run both Linux and Windows Mobile OSs. With graphics chipmaker NVIDIA, Freescale has put out reference designs that use the NVIDIA GoForce 3D 4500 wireless media processor. This lets users of future devices experience lifelike graphics and gaming. This generation of the i.MX also features an 'enhanced multimedia accelerator with provides simultaneous MPEG4 and H.263 processing. The ColdFire family on the other hand is a variable-length RISC 68K processor that's meant for price-conscious embedded systems. In ColdFire, CPU instructions are processed in a single cyle giving its users the ability to lower system costs because of lower requirements for memory and on-bus bandwidth.

Notebooks for rally racing 
Notebooks meant for really road-warrior usage come with electronic motion sensors that automatically park drive heads when there is sudden violent motion, rubber shock absorbers safeguard critical system components even when the notebook is switched off, and armor (in the form of hardened skeletons and frames made of magnesium alloys.

Users of these systems can also take advantage of longer battery life (of upto 10 hours), and the facility to add additional batteries. At the same time, these notebooks are slim and light in weight. Typical notebooks sold in the market however have typical battery lives of two to three hours on average.

Aftermath-The Pen is Mightier

Digital Bluetooth pens let you write or draw on any material to 'scan' it. This can be used to quickly transfer information from oblique media like pottery, paintings or other objects that cannot be subject to a common page scanner. Models are available from Nokia (called the Nokia Digital Pen, has Bluetooth and MMS capabilities) and Logitech io (uses USB not Bluetooth and requires connectivity to other devices for processing scanned data). These 'pens' can scan entire A4-sized pages in around 4-5 seconds and store about a 100 such pages in memory. Pens like the one from Nokia may feature MMS capabilities; so you can avoid needing a separate Bluetooth-compatible computer to process the data. In the latest paper leak scandal that rocked the All-India PostGraduate Medical Entrance Examination conducted by AIIMS, the perpetrators used a similar device. This is unfortunately a negative use of such a useful technology. When positively used, they can be used by executives to quickly collect samples and input survey data.

Software technologies
So you have the mobile devices and the wireless networking that lets you be connected wherever you are. But without the software that can let you do all this, you are missing the ice-cream in the cone. Software for the mobile arguably faces some of the worst challenges in their implementation. They suffer from a general lack of standards across the board. And its applications can make no reasonable assumptions about network quality or availability.

Yet, this is a platform that provides one of the most robust and powerful computing platforms among those in existence today. In this part, let's look at what's available and what they let you achieve. We also ponder on how it could all be better. As with the rest of this story, when we talk of 'mobiles', we include notebooks, subnotebooks, handhelds, PDAs and smart phones. Do note that while we may mention some products by name below, we are not specifically recommending them, these are to be used solely as a reference as to what is available in the market.

General productivity
Just like for the PC, the mobile user can take advantage of a rich variety of productivity software, including word processors, spreadsheets, email, instant messengers and collaboration software, databases, personal information managers, compression software, tools that let you sync your device with another computer and lately, tools that encrypt and decrypt your communications over wireless and Bluetooth.

The Opera Mini is an enterprise-friendly browser designed for handhelds, optimized for small screen rendering with support for cHTML and WAP

Of all these, the most visible segment on the Web (atleast) are the PIMs and calendars. The most essential of this class of software is already shipped bundled with the product.

Audit and control 
Formerly known as 'SyncML', OMA-DS is a standard that lets mobile devices exchange information among themselves to stay in sync with each other. OMA-DS stands for 'Open Mobile Alliance for Data Synchronization and Device Management' and has now transitioned into an open vendor-independent standard. The most common use of OMA-DS is in synching calendar information, but can be put to a variety of uses like push e-mail, backing up data onto other computers and project and task coordination. SyncML has various spin-off implementations in the form of Multisync, WebDAV and ICE.  Vendors of devices supporting SyncML implementations also provide SDKs that let developers build applications to take advantage of these capabilities. For the enterprise, OMA-DS provides a way to manage mobile devices in the campus. For instance, solutions like Synchronica's MobileManager allow you to manage all the smart phones being used in your enterprise's range. Just like you would roll out fixes and updates, manage inventory and perform security and other auditing on your PCs and notebooks, this software lets you do the same for smart phones that executives are carrying around-all without necessitating them to bring it in, dock it with a computer and perform the tasks. This also lets your administrators trace and recover data from units that may are lost or misplaced.  Other software also add capabilities to diagnose and repair problems with the device.

Databases
Editions of enterprise versions of software (like RDBMS, replication tools, etc) are available for the mobile as well. For instance, Oracle has the Lite versions of its Oracle database suite, data synchronization tools and software and replication managers. Microsoft recently released the SQL Server Everywhere, that's a mobile version of its SQL Server database. IBM's DB2 Everyplace and ITTIA's Fuel  are two other lightweight databases meant for the embedded space. On resource constrained handhelds, it is useful to check beforehand what back-ends are used by your applications.

The Palm OS
The rise in fortunes of the Palm OS began with the success of the Pilot 1000 in 1996. Today, there are two concurrent versions of the OS in active use. One set is the Palm OS 5 and the Garnet that run on ARM processors and supports a variety of networking options as well as display resolutions. The next generation, called the Cobalt (v 6.1) will add the ability to have separate functionality on the handheld for the enterprise. This new OS will also add new networking options like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to the palmtop. In December 2005, Palm OS was announced to become Linux-based. This new platform is targeted mainly at the high performance 2.5 and 3 G network. This would let the Palm OS incorporate features like commercial-grade Linux with the 2.6.12 kernel, the GIMP/GTK+ toolkit, the GStreamer multimedia streaming framework and the compact SQLite database platform in the handheld. In addition, a number of PalmSource components such as browser, telephony and messaging clients and personal mobile productivity apps (PIMs, etc) are included.

Beyond the Horizon-The digital foursome

Earlier constrained to three vertices of the telephony triangle, the service now bundles another hand in the form of wireless. So the center of attraction now is quadruple play than triple play. This way the cable companies will be able to offer wireless services and also package those services with high-speed Internet access, VoIP and television offerings. Quadruple play of services will make it easier for the customers as they get a one-stop shop solution from the cable operators only. While it will be a step ahead in terms of the technology, the telecom companies might face competition as cable operators gain the limelight with wireless telecom. Analysts say the strategy could accelerate the emergence of new services and the growth of mobile TV. While at some places, cable operators and wireless service offering companies have already joined hands to offer these services. With its kind of potential, quadruple play can even offer a converged wireline-wireless voice mailbox, access to unique video content and the ability to remotely control digital video recorders, or DVRs.

Summing up
As vendors and standards bodies battle it out to bring us faster connectivity, better security on the move and devices that belt out better and faster applications, the landscape of mobile computing is changing at a hectic pace. This is one of the areas of IT which production-scale implementers should wait and watch, while there are always products in the market for early adopters who wish to experiment.

Rinku Tyagi and Sujay V Sarma

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