December 2007
 

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Think Strategically About Wireless

Strategic Approach As a reader of the Apprion Wireless NETworks newsletter, you are likely to agree that wireless technologies can enable radical improvements in the efficiency, safety, productivity, security, and reliability of virtually any type of asset: people, instruments, processes, and machines. But how you approach the deployment of wireless in your plant will determine whether or not you will be able to realize the tremendous benefits wireless technologies can offer.

Most of us are, by nature, problem-solvers. We have a problem. We want to fix it. We look for options on how to best accomplish the task. Today, wireless technologies can "fix" many problems much more economically than wired alternatives – and with increased security and reliability. If you choose a wireless technology to solve a problem, good for you! You have solved the problem, saved money, and everyone is happy.

The challenges begin once you turn to wireless technologies to solve a second, third, or fourth problem. There is no "one-size-fits-all" wireless technology that adequately addresses every application or operational need, and ensures complete security, radio spectrum co-existence, and system reliability. You will end up with many wireless "systems" each with their own supporting infrastructure, management challenges, and security protocols. Plus, there is no assurance that these many wireless systems will be able to effectively co-exist without interfering with one another.

Apprion has seen numerous facilities that have gone down the path of implementing point solutions and ending up with wireless systems that aren’t as reliable or robust as expected. These facilities added new wireless systems without a strategic plan for how the current systems should work together and where they might want to deploy wireless in the future. Without a plan, they ended up with "wireless spaghetti", a tangled knot of technologies that can’t support current application demands, much less act as a foundation for future needs.

That is why Apprion recommends a strategic approach to wireless implementation. In the long run, it will save time, money and enable a scalable wireless infrastructure for future applications and systems implementations.

The first step in thinking strategically about wireless is to develop a "Wireless Site Plan". Some of the key benefits of the strategic planning approach with a Wireless Site Plan include:
  • Identification and prioritization of applications that necessitate or would greatly benefit from wireless technology
  • Comprehensive "best–fit" analysis of application requirements with available wireless technologies.
  • Design and engineering of a cost–effective shared wireless infrastructure that ensures reliability, compatibility, and security of disparate wireless networks.
  • Clear budget projection with an actionable, organized, strategic wireless plan that can be implemented over an appropriate timeline.
Learn more about a Wireless Site Plan by Apprion.



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ABOUT APPRION

Apprion delivers application network systems and services designed for the process manufacturing industry. Apprion's ION system provides the only unified, open and secure industrial application network for plant managers and their engineering and IT organizations. ION optimizes the manageability and performance of the wireless devices, systems and networks within plants so that managers gain the highest value possible from information generated by their operational and productivity applications. Apprion’s industrial products and services enable the deployment of wireless applications with the lowest total cost of ownership.  Customers include market leaders in oil and gas, chemical and power/utilities.

Apprion is located in Moffett Field, California. For more information about the company, its products and sales office locations, visit www.apprion.com.