Wireless Solutions

Recent technology advances and standards in the wireless networking space have caused dramatic growth in this area. Along with the growing acceptance and increased sophistication of mobile/wireless applications, wireless networks, specifically WLANs (wireless LANs) based on IEEE 802.11b/WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) standards, are becoming more prevalent.

ASV is able to perform wireless LAN assessments to help you integrate this technology into your existing infrastructure, manage the deployment and configuration of wireless devices to maximize effectiveness, and provide the necessary support to ensure reliable operation. In addition, ASV is acutely aware of security concerns associated with the new wireless technologies and ensures that with a secure setup, your organization will not be “broadcasting” confidential information over the airwaves where it could be intercepted.

Defining a Wireless Solution

While wireless solutions vary widely in characteristics, they all draw items from four categories of architectural components: client devices, wireless applications, information infrastructure, and wireless networks

Client devices are the most visible component of a wireless solution. They are the physical platform for wireless applications and provide services such as voice communications, data capture and display, information processing, and location detection. These devices may be carried by users, mounted within shipping containers, or installed inside a car. Client devices include smart phones, pagers, PDAs, e-mail appliances, and special-purpose units for scanning, bar coding, and credit card reading.

Wireless applications supply the business functionality behind the wireless solution. They can cover any need from personal productivity to safety and asset monitoring. Depending on the functionality required, these applications may be "off-the-shelf" packages, custom developed, or "re-purposed" from existing web applications.

The information infrastructure is the repository of knowledge incorporated within the wireless solution. Although these data components are invisible to most users, access to information is the "raison d'être" for most wireless solutions. This information may be environmental data captured on an oil rig for display at a monitoring station or it may be an amalgam of customer information drawn from a variety of corporate information systems and databases. The information infrastructure consists of the back-end applications, databases, voice systems, e-mail systems, middleware, and other components needed to support the information requirements of the chosen wireless application.

Wireless networks serve as the conduit, or transport mechanism, between devices or between devices and traditional wired networks (corporate networks, the Internet, etc.). These networks vary widely in cost, coverage, and transmission rates; they include options such as infrared, Bluetooth, WLAN, digital cellular, and satellite.

Together, these four components constitute the wireless solution's architecture. In the simplest case, this architecture consists of a single device type, using a single application and connected to a single network. However, many business solutions will be more complex, supporting multiple client devices, offering a variety of applications, and stitching together multiple networks to gain the desired level of coverage.