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July 2008 | |
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The challenges associated with extending mobility in the industrial environment are very different from the office environment. Achieving success and cost-efficiency in industrial mobility solutions requires an in-depth understanding of the unique issues in the industrial environment, and how those issues translate into specifications for the mobility backbone – the wireless infrastructure. The selection of the right wireless infrastructure will:
Reliability – A wireless system that offers maximum mean time between failure specifications (MTBF) and multiple levels of redundancy is crucial to ensuring the uninterrupted network availability required to protect productivity and profitability. Performance-enhancing features that contribute to reliability provide granular control over the availability and quality of the wireless connection. Some of these features include: Clustering, Self-healing, and managed network services. Security – The network must be protected from unauthorized users who could initiate attacks that can lead to downtime, the introduction of erroneous information or the theft of company data. the wireless system should offer a comprehensive portfolio of security features that can be layered as needed to achieve the right level of security for different applications. In addition to controlling who accesses the wireless system, data should be protected as it travels over the wireless infrastructure. And the ability to monitor the wireless system in real time is critical to enabling the swift action required to minimize the effects of any security breach. Comprehensive Integration Capabilities – At the center of mobility solutions, the wireless system should offer the flexibility to easily integrate the various technologies and devices that are in use in your environment today – as well as those required to meet business needs tomorrow. To future proof the wireless infrastructure investment and enable the integration of the technologies and services that will best serve the enterprise, consider an open wireless infrastructure that supports features such as a complete range of voice services, vendor and RF neutral agnostic and a centralized user interface. Management – Wireless infrastructure in a production environment can span large areas – throughout a single metropolitan area or at multiple sites throughout the world. Management of wireless solutions often ripple into ongoing operational costs that may be even more costly than the capital required to purchase and deploy the system itself – and can actually erode the benefits of the mobility solution. To address this issue, your solution provider should offer comprehensive management solutions that provide central and remote management of many possible aspects of the mobility solution, including the wireless infrastructure, mobile devices, RFID readers, sensor networks and wireless applications. Physical Environmental Challenges – The industrial environment poses a number of significant environmental challenges not found in the carpeted space, from the sheer size and reach of the facilities to the presence of hazardous materials and a lot of RF 'noise', RF blind spots, and more. To deliver reliable wireless connectivity in such an environment, the industrial enterprise will need a comprehensive wireless product portfolio that can effectively address mesh networks, Ethernet (POE), access points, RF coverage patterns and proper site planning for an open network. Mobility Support – Enabling mobility in the wide physical geography of the industrial enterprise requires a true wireless network ecosystem – comprised of multiple wireless infrastructure components needed to provide the most cost-effective and reliable extension of voice and data services. Cost – Wireless vs. wired implementation comparisons today have proven that a project done with wireless technology will usually cost 50-70% LESS than the wired option. Wireless points and applications can usually be implemented faster, cheaper, and without outages for installation requirements needed for wired installations. From an economic perspective, wireless makes sense. Understanding these features and how to address them is key to deploying an industrial wireless solution and successfully connecting an enterprise. » Read more about Driving Connectivity Beyond the Carpeted Space – Download the free white paper  |
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