Wifi Revolution

Cisco has been stealing the show at Interop (News - Alert), making multiple announcements to improve solutions for its customers. First, the company has announced a new mobility solution for the oil and gas industry, the Cisco First Mile Wireless solution, integrating best-in-class technologies, services, security policies and management applications.

The Cisco First Mile Wireless solution is designed to support the extension and augmentation of corporate networked data to be utilized by wellhead workers stationed at desolate oil fields and off-shore ocean oil rigs.

This newest Cisco solution is positioned as helping oil and gas companies increase drilling uptime performance, improve in-field decision making processes and reduce operation costs through the transformation of isolated drilling sites to connected arms of the headquarter corporate network.

Using the Cisco First Mile Wireless solution, oilfields and ocean rig platforms can network SCADA controls, maintenance sensors, mobile service workers, physical security assets, service vehicles and location service tags, in addition to integrate mobility services, including wireless voice over IP, video and guest access.

Comprised of Cisco 1500 Series wireless mesh access points with specialized blast-proof hardened cases and Cisco WCS for wireless network management, The Standard Cisco First Mile Wireless solution is supported by Cisco Secure Services for network security. The technologies include Wi-Fi bridging, WiMAX and satellite connectivity, and operation technologies and applications that complete the transformation of the oilfields.

“Mobility is about empowering businesses to make better, faster and more informed business decisions,” said Ben Gibson, director of mobility solutions, Cisco, in a statement. “When data is confined it becomes stale, stagnant and loses its inherent value. By contrast, information that is shared creates catalysts for new ideas, methods and ways to improve processes.”

Cisco has also announced Cisco In-Store Mobility Solutions, which are systems designed to help transform retail store environments. This solution integrates Unified Communications (News - Alert) and Wireless solutions with Cisco Services best practices in an effort to deliver a rich set of applications and services.

With the Cisco Unified Wireless Network as the foundation of these solutions, the store environment is protected from wireless threats, customer financial information is safeguarded and a platform is established to deliver mobility applications to employees, suppliers and customers anywhere in the store.

“Retailers today are looking for new ways to respond more quickly to customer demands and improve collaboration among associates and customers,” said Ed Jimenez, Director, Global Retail Industry Marketing at Cisco, in a statement. “Retailers are looking for their infrastructures to provide more than just wireless data connectivity, they are looking for advanced mobile services such as voice, location capabilities, and the delivery of rich media. Cisco’s In-Store Mobility solutions make this possible.”

Cisco In-Store Mobility Solutions are comprised of two offerings: Cisco In-Store Mobile Voice and Cisco In-Store Personal Shopper. The In-Store Mobile Voice is designed to improve associate productivity and collaboration through the combination of Cisco Unified Communications and the Cisco Unified Wireless Network. The Cisco Unified Wireless IP 7921G Phone and a variety of other devices from Cisco partners are used to enable a rich offering of mobile voice and data applications.

“Delivering excellent customer service at any location within the store – not just at the checkout – is a key focus for Dick’s Sporting Goods,” said Tim Dorsch, Manager, Network Infrastructure at Dicks Sporting Goods, in a statement. “By using mobile technologies such as voice over wireless LANs, we can improve responsiveness to customer demands and in most cases resolve requests without ever leaving the customer.”

The Cisco IN-Store Personal Shopper offers a combination of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network and the MediaCart solution to produce an interactive shopping cart with an integrated video display so that retailers can enable customer self-service at the point of choice.

Using passive RFID technology, the Cisco-enabled MediaCart can determine in real-time the customer location and deliver targeted point-of-choice advertising straight to consumers’ shopping carts at points where featured products are located. MediaCart data analytics reveal valuable information to retailers, such as real-time performance reports regarding optimal messages, communication location, and customer buying patterns.

Finally, Cisco has also announced an architected industry first – integrated WiFi chokepoint and telemetry services into the Cisco Location Solution, which includes the Cisco Unified Wireless Network and integrated partner applications and active/passive tag offerings. The solution is designed to mobile assets across an enterprise environment.

“With the Cisco Location Solution, customers can extend their WiFi (News - Alert) network to drive more productivity and business value out of their network infrastructure,” said Brian Brouillette, vice president, Mission Critical, Networking and Education Services, HP Services, in a statement.

“With Hardware Support, Software Support and Implementation Services provided worldwide by HP, customers have a trusted source to design, build, integrate, and maintain a Cisco wireless environment that allows them to be intelligently aware of how their mobile assets are used in near real-time.”

The new ability to utilize chokepoint technology and telemetry capabilities is integral to the Cisco Location Solution. Through partnerships with chokepoint suppliers AeroScout and WhereNet, chokepoints and associated tags can be used in conjunction with a Cisco Unified Wireless Network in an effort to optimize location and tracking of mobile assets.

With Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) program for WiFi tags, widespread availability of tags that are interoperable with the Cisco Location Solution is ensured. Cisco opens its CCX program for WiFi tags to leading location technology providers, including: AeroScout, G2 Microsystems, PanGo and WhereNet.

As a result, vendors will have the ability to integrate even greater performance, capability and flexibility in their location solutions. Through the utilization CCX-compliant tags with a Cisco Unified Wireless Network and Cisco Location Solution, customers can gain the option to choose tags from a variety of vendors and utilizing an optimal tag selection for key applications while eliminating tag-to-network compatibility concerns.

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Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

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