Technology Research and Report - Essay Example

?Technology Research and Report Introduction Major changes have surfaced in the technology and information architecture landscape which is a clear indication that the world is headed to a period of technology change. The current technology has provided huge changes on both computer and mobile applications. The software units distributed online either directly to users all over the world or via incorporation in devices and objects is comparatively decreasing in size as changes occur. The use of state-of-the-art messaging, solutions with open-source and security features, data management and information sharing has become tightly connected to business processes and has facilitated new kinds of collaboration, partnering and outsourcing relationships. Frank Ohrtman (2003, p.116) indicates that among data exchange standard, there has been phenomenal improvement especially in XML MP3 and TCP/IP the much dependent upon broad access to nonproprietary networking and data communications infrastructure (the Internet) that has been a principle tool in supporting the rising of technology waves and strong development undercurrents . Current technological landscape In this technological age, the combination of new standards, distributed software, expertise and a worldwide Internet infrastructure has created and continues to create a profoundly new technological architecture landscape. The advancement on technology has contributed immensely to heavy investment in the information technology industry. Organisations have increased investments in technologies and standards that allow them to bring structure to unstructured information. The motivation to replace unstructured with structured data is not the sole responsibility of the information community and the library alone, but also among business and national authorities across the world nations. On average enterprises operate with upto 85 percent of unstructured content, upon which efforts are being focused on harnessing their power in order for the enterprises to benefit from resulting competitive advantages. (Aray R., 2004). Among many others, there have emerged search engines as a dominant technical and structural approach towards automated data categorisation. Savvy Web users have become experts (professionally known as SEOs) at optimizing search strategies to maximize of the expected result although pressure has arose for much more advanced/structures search engines. Delivery of mobiles services This technology has also been widely embraced in the mobile technology. Provision of websites that are viewable via mobile phones is increasingly on demand and organisations have largely embraced provision of services and information through mobile technology (Andreas F. 2011) Mobile service providers have been largely affected by the current technology landscape as they have to cope with ever emerging changes in the industry. Big chunks of the world’s population today are holders of mobile phones. Mobiles are not only used as communication devices but as also devices to access the Internet. The integration of such capabilities in the mobile devices has triggered a paralleled competition among mobile service providers as well as manufactures (Ajay R., 210). Effect of coverage and limitations Irrespective of geographical and topographical challenges, mobile service providers have managed to provide network coverage for their services to almost all parts within where their businesses operate. Though some challenges of network coverage are largely found in the African continent, most areas in the continent still enjoy these services. Advantages of 2G, 3G and 4G The mobile telecommunications industry has seen a lot of evolution since the inception of the use of mobile phone as a means of communication. There have been migrations in the industry such as the 2G, 3G and now the famous 4G networks in this industry. These have seen the industry improve provision of service to mobile owners become streamlined and the service advanced. The 2G technology evolved from 1G technology that formerly used analog modulations for communication. 2G technology uses digital modulation for voice transmission thence it has lower rates for data transmission. 2G platform presents the capacity to compress and multiplex voice data more effectively than analog voice encodings. It uses various codecs that allow more calls via the same amount of radio bandwidth (Aray R., 2004). The evolution of 2G platform led to the introduction of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) which had the capacity to provide data rates from 56kbps up to 114 kbps. According to Aray (2004, p.61), it had many accompanying advantages such as being used to provide Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Short Message Services (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Services, and for Internet contacting options access all in a mobile environment. The 3G network compared to other networks possess increased data rates for data transfer as well as heightened capability for channels by adopting multiple frequency use which have helped the platform maintain its presence in the market. 4G is the successor mobile technology standard to 3G. 4G is designed to offer high data and voice transmission capabilities as well as web access. It uses packet switching rather than circuit switching that has been in use by its predecessors. Its architecture is pegged to the provision of communication with great movement (e.g. in cars and trains) and low mobility communication (pedestrians and stationary users) (Aray R., 2004). The platform is designed to provide systems with facilities including Internet Protocol telephony, high capacity internet, gaming alternatives, and stream multimedia services. Some of the major key features of the 4G mobile network include: 1) provision of seamless mobility, 2) high level quality of service, 3) support for integrated services, 4) support for multimedia services at low transmission cost, 4) high usability: anytime, anywhere, and with any technology, 5) personalization, among many others (Frank Ohrtman, 2003). Overheating and short battery life are the two main disadvantages associated with this technology standard though. Wi-Fi vs. telecoms Wi-Fi, the short for wireless fidelity, is a technology that has captured the hearts of many organisation as its deployment is overwhelming. Janice (2003, p. 84) observes that the benefits of data communications such as email, the web and e-commerce has been brought about by the Internet while mobile service has enabled an “always on” telephony. The convergence of these two has offered the benefits new interactive multimedia services coupled with flexibility and mobility of wireless. The introduction of broad band connections has enabled organisations to realise the full potential of this convergence. Both technologies are wireless and thus they facilitate mobility for connected devices as well as offer the capability to clients to stay connected over wide serving areas. Wi-Fi is used to offer an end-user-centric, decentralised approach to service provision while telecoms embedded in the 3G standard offers a vertically integrated, top-down, service provider in its provision of wireless Internet access (Janice Reynolds, 2003). Wi-Fi operate in wide ranges of coverage for higher bandwidth but 3G standards much narrower bandwidth over a wide calling area coupled with support for rapid movement between base stations. Deployment of Wi-Fi is mostly done in local areas where one or a few base stations are managed as a separate wireless LAN. On the other hand, a 3G network would includes a large number of base stations that operate over a wide area as integrated wireless network that enables load sharing and uninterrupted hands-off when subscribers between base stations at high speeds (Frank Ohrtman, 2003). Security issues often arise with regard to the usability of these technologies. In the telecoms industry, for instance, insecurity has especially of the mobile device owners has increased with the change in technology and as the technology in the mobile industry get complex, the more sophisticated insecurity issues become. Kidnappers exploit the vulnerabilities in the mobile service providers’ network to track people who later become victims. Strengths and weaknesses of Android The Android application has become famous in the mobile market due to its capacities to handle integrated applications that have not been in the mobile industry. The initial application is designed to run in a sandbox, which is an isolated area of the operating system (OS) cordoned away from the resources of the system. Once a user installs the OS, s/he bears the capacity to grant access to the system’s resources. It is an open source application that can be modified to fit one’s market requirements and due to this, android has seen a lot of evolution since it was introduced into the market. Weaknesses As a consequence of emerging versions of the Android application, quite a number of Android malware incidents have been reported involving Android Market. Andreas (2011, p. 238) report that in August 2010, Kaspersky Lab testing of the first Android program malicious program, that bore the name Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, and the SMS Trojan had already infected a number of devices. The Android registered manufacturer, Google, responded by removing the malicious applications from the Android Market as well as remotely disabling them on all the infected devices (Andreas, 2011). Strengths The nature of the Android application as an open source application carries the meaning that other applications can be created to run it. This has led to a growing number of such applications in the Android market. The ability to run multiple applications at once on Android confirms its capability to supports multi-tasking. For instance, one is able open a Web page and while it loads, checks for incoming e-mail. The registered manufactures of Android is Google, and its close ties with it offers lots of excellent integrated mobile applications such as Google Maps that are available on different mobile platforms. Saad (2011, p. 218) observes that it provides a good background processing though the Android OS lacks the elegance available in its chief rivals especially the Apple’s iPhone OS and Palm's webOS. But it enjoys the advantages and the benefit of being. The Android application can operate in virtually every network platform. Network characteristics have been defined in terms of their support to open Internet standards and protocols, extent of wireless networks coverage, cost factor, uniform/spotty coverage, data transmission, speed, security concerns, and the time taken to service requests (Saad, 2011). The Android OS operates in this category of wireless networks and there taking into consideration of the above mentioned characteristics, all devices fitted with this application are able to operate in every network platform. Reference list Aray R. Mishra, 2004, Fundamentals of Cellular Network Planning and Optimization: 2G, 2.5G, 3G – evolution to 4G, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, England. Ajay R. Mishra, 2010, Cellular Technologies for Emerging Markets: 2G, 3G and Beyond, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, England. Andreas F. Molisch, 2011, Wireless Communications, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, England. Frank Ohrtman, Konrad Roeder 2003, WI-Fi Handbook: Building 802.11b Wireless networks, Professional Publishing, New York. Janice Reynolds, 2003, Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network, Focal Press, USA. Saad Zaman Asif, 2011, Next Generation Mobile Communications Ecosystem: Technology Management for Mobile Communcations, Wiley & Sons Ltd, England. Read More