Wireless Compatibility with Information Systems - Research Paper Example

Wireless Compatibility with Information Systems Introduction—Mobile IT Compatibility with Existing Information Systems Wireless technology is still difficult to connect to other parts of information systems This paper provides an overview of the factors hindering the interworking of wireless devices, designed for mobility and portability, with other conventional information systems components. The use of “conventional” here does not refer to “legacy” systems; but to the current computing devices that run well known computer operations systems (e.g. Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX) and connect to IP networks via wired or wireless based technology that was meant to be a link layer for carrying TCP/IP packets (e.g. ADSL, ATM, Wi-Fi, WiMax). Our subject devices may be GPRS/EDGE or 3G connected computers or alternately Wi-Fi connected smart phones. 1. Discussion There are compatibility issues at the network, operating system, and application levels (Intermec, Nortel). These issues are currently being addressed with the objective of achieving a convergent information network that transparently supports all applications using any terminal device. 1.1 Network Compatibility GSM wireless networks carried IP packets over GPRS (45 Kbps), and EDGE (180 Kbps). These protocols are modem based and are slower and less reliable than current digital data transmission technologies. Current versions of TCP assume a reliable high rate link and therefore its congestion control algorithms are tuned to handle traffic driven congestion. Wireless links are slower and incur higher error rates. Several options related to fast error recovery have resulted in the development of “Wireless Profiled TCP.” UMTS, a GSM and CDMA successor, is a 3G technology whose development is carried through into 4G, relies on W-CDMA and supports up to 21 Mbps with HSDPA. Users can expect at best uplink rates of 284 Kbps and downlink of 7.2 Mbps. When IP is carried over UMTS, ATM is typically the link layer, with SS7 being the signaling protocol. The later has a different addressing scheme from IP, so two new protocols were developed to carry SS7 over IP. Real time and streaming oriented transport protocols are also being developed in replacement to TCP. It is unfair to even attempt to treat all network issues involved in this short paper. An excellent and complete coverage of the subject is provided in (Bannister et Al., 2004). The practical conclusion is that there are many standards and operator related issues that would have to be resolved before one can think of actual convergence at the network level. On another hand, wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) technology seems to be the more suited for short and medium term mobile application support since the wireless part involved has local significance and was designed to interwork with IP routers, just like an Ethernet port plugged into the router. 1.2 Operating System compatibility There are as of now far more mobile operating systems than there are “stable” PC ones: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Google’s Android, Blackberry’s RIM, and Apple’s iPhone OS are the most known (Wikipedia.org). Operating systems impact the way the network’s physical media is accessed (the air interface) and the way client applications communicate with servers (protocols). One can find disparate solutions being developed like enabling MS Exchange access from Windows Mobile or IBM’s Lotus notes and Citrix access from Apple’s iPhone; but there is long and intense way to go before assuming smooth client-server applications. This is a major hinder since portable wireless devices are intended to run thin client applications and rely on servers for heavier processing and storage. Middleware is being developed to translate between mobile systems and servers, such as Omni Technology’s GroupWise caching client. 1.3 Applications There are issues with the development and testing platforms used to design wireless applications, which have to be developed on a PC or workstation and tested using a special test platform, if not at the actual device. There are a jargon of programming languages carried from the IT world that have not yet yielded clear programming methodologies and frameworks (Wikipedia.org). 2. Recent IT Changes Affecting Wireless The most notable change happening in IT nowadays is the move towards Web services and more network centric computing (Elkarra, 2003). This is a direction that aligns well with potential mobile utilities. In particular, Web services offer the advantages of majority server-side applications accessed through Web browsers, hence relaxing the compatibility complications of communicating with different servers. Web services also use a generic markup messaging language (XML), making convergence easier with unified standards based transformations among messaging and presentation formats of different applications. Advances in software client based firewalling and intrusion protection, along with strong encryption technology, will also contribute to safer use of mobile devices once they’re open to data networks—being more vulnerable to attacks from both hardware and operating system standpoints. 3. Main Unresolved IT Issues There are too many operating systems for common application development frameworks to emerge at this time. Although mobile operating systems are designed for mobile devices, there is not yet structured programming languages specifically designed to fit the runtime environment of mobile devices. Benchmark standards need to be defined to measure hardware and operating system platform capabilities. Also, much work needs to be done on common frameworks for user interface design, with conformance to usability standards. 4. Considerations Other than Technology Usability is one important issue that could utilize a significant amount of underlying theoretical research to direct UI designers through the maze of “unusable” stuff they cleverly produce. Another issue is the changes of business environment and its impact on the way people conduct their daily transactions. Such changes could only motivate a faster-paced streamlining of mobile applications to enable more effective and timely transactions to take place. One could foresee that businesses that cannot catch up with mobile applications over well designed wireless infrastructure are likely to fall behind in a sense similar to those businesses that were late catching up with IT and networking. The last factor is regulatory. There are many worldwide service providers with different service orientations and many regulatory bodies with varying degrees of flexibility that will need to work together towards convergence and interoperation of wireless information systems; and that is indeed a very difficult task. 5. References Intermec, “The Changing Wireless World – What You Need to Know,” White Paper Nortel and SBC Companies, “Engineering A WLAN Network,” White Paper Jeffery Bannister, Paul Mather, and Sebastian Coope, “Convergence Technologies for 3G Networks: IP, UMTS, EGPRS, ATM,” John Wiley, 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_development GroupWise Mobile PDA Access - No Windows Server Required, Omni Technology Solutions Nasseam Elkarra, “A Web Services Strategy for Mobile Phones,” XML.com, 2003 Read More