This is Your Brain… on a Mobile App

CNN recently posted an article highlighting the rise, and evolution, of mobile applications, specifically as it relates to healthcare and brain imaging for diagnosing strokes. Those of us who’ve been around the industry long enough are already aware of the potential for mobile applications in the healthcare space, but the article makes good mention of the fact that technology (smartphones and tablet computers) is starting to deliver more reliable hardware for the tasks.

Medical experts have been skeptical about using a 3.5-inch screen, like the one on an iPhone, for emergency diagnoses. But thanks to advancements in image compression, microprocessors and wireless-data bandwidth, the smartphone may prove to be, like beepers, an essential tool for on-the-go doctors.

Of course, this also plays into the growing concerns with HIPAA and HITECH regulations. With this information on a device, you can see how ensuring that EHR/EMR data is protected is an absolute must, whether it’s on the device or being transmitted wirelessly.

So, that begs the question: How comfortable or uncomfortable would you be knowing your doctors smartphone has an image of your brain on it?

Mobility Trends That Will Change Business

I came across this article thanks to the Enterprise Mobility Forums Twitter feed, and wanted to share it with you all. The article comes from InformationWeek, and discusses a few interesting topics that are very applicable to our space. There are a couple of things it highlights that I’d like to point out, and urge you to read the rest and tell us what jumps out at you. Onto the article…

First, that with the emergence of enterprise-level smartphone use, it’s becoming increasingly important for an enterprises strategy to incorporate a vender agnostic approach.

“An important outcome of this trend is that a majority of the workforce, not just the top executives, will have mobile access and will expect access to more than email. This will require businesses to change their application, development, and services strategies…”

The other item that I found particularly well put, was the summary/idea of enterprise mobility management. The author has done a great job in defining it as the next generation of mobile device management; one that incorporates new mobility and traditional aspects of MDM such as security and application management.

“[Enterprise Mobility Management] is a combination of mobile device management, security management, applications management, and services and expense management.”

Check out the complete article and tell us what you think!

Greetings From Europe! Wavelink on the Road

Our worldwide tour continues as we send along a few pictures from the Retail Business Technology Expo in London and the Motorola Roadshow in Berlin.

We’re demonstrating the new German UI of Avalanche in Berlin and if you are at either event, please stop by to see Avalanche Smartphone Management and grab some free gifts. Also, if you haven’t checked out our upcoming webinar schedule, do so now and learn more about Cisco phone management as well as the aforementioned Smartphone Management.

Enjoy!

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Wavelink on the Road! Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

Good morning everyone! We’re on the road in Las Vegas this week for the Motorola Channel Partner Expo. Today is the last day of the event, so if you’re in town for the show and haven’t dropped by, there is still time to do so. We’re demonstrating the soon to be released Avalanche smartphone support and also snapped some pictures just before the doors opened for last night’s session. Hope you enjoy them!

Smartphones and Mobile Devices: What Data is Safe Anymore?

With our recent announcement about the soon-to-be released Smartphone support from Avalanche, we are obviously paying greater attention to not only just traditional mobile device management topics, but more and more to those that involve Smartphones, tablets, etc. I missed this column when it came out, but it brings up some very interesting questions regarding the safety of data on employee and corporate owned devices.

The column points to a recent California Supreme Court ruling that information contained on a mobile device, can be accessed by police without a warrant. Now, for most of us that means little, but the author makes a compelling case about how that could cause some serious security issues. For example, a doctor caught speeding and his device, which happens to contain confidential patient information, is confiscated.

“The potential consequences to the hospital are devastating: Not only must it inform patients of a privacy breach (an effort which can, by itself, cost millions of dollars). It may also face fines and legal action for allowing the information to be revealed in the first place.”

It brings up some very interesting, and valid, concerns about how information is kept safe. As a side note, we will be demonstrating our Smartphone support on the road, so if you’d like to discuss this or other Smartphone topics, stop by one of these shows and say hello.

 

Training Tuesday! Wavelink’s Certified Partner Training Program

Here’s the latest look at our upcoming training classes. Wavelink’s Certified Partner Training Program is designed to meet the training needs of our channel partners.  The program blends traditional academic classroom lectures with applied learning in a lab environment.  The goal of Wavelink’s Certified Partner Training Program is to prepare the student to become an expert in utilizing one or more of Wavelink’s products.

Upcoming courses:

Course Date(s)	Course(s)	Location
02/08/2011 to 02/10/2011	Avalanche MC 5.0	Mexico City, MX
02/22/2011 to 02/24/2011	Avalanche MC 5.0	Barcelona, SP
03/22/2011 to 03/24/2011	Avalanche SE 5.0/Emulation/WIB/Speakeasy	Sao Paulo, BR

Wavelink training sessions:   Register Now

 

Also, in case you missed it we announced support for mobile printers and that we will soon be able to extend management to smartphones! If you have more questions on either and are attending one of our trainings, make sure to ask me for more information.

Hand-helds to Improve College Courses?

Today’s entry comes courtesy of one of our Sales Rep’s, and it definitely classifies itself in the “Oh, how the times have changed” bin. The article covers how universities are now leveraging the power and flexibility of wireless hand-held devices to improve collegiate courses. The idea is that by utilizing these wireless devices, a new door is opened for classroom interaction, participation and attendance:

“Though the technology is relatively new, preliminary studies at Harvard and Ohio State, among other institutions, suggest that engaging students in class through a device as familiar to them as a cellphone — there are even applications that convert iPads and BlackBerrys into class-ready clickers — increases their understanding of material that may otherwise be conveyed in traditional lectures.”

It really is an innovative way to use some of the benefits of wireless devices. Remembering back to your college days, would you have ever pictured such a thing? I certainly didn’t!

A Look at Managing Mobility and More…

We’re halfway through the week, and my goodness have the last few months been flying by! I was checking out some posts on Twitter and came across a good read from Network World about successful wireless initiatives. One of the aspects I found particularly interesting was the part about BlackBerries, and I’d be curious to hear if any of you have the same or different opinion.

One of the other items I was drawn to was the bit on security. It talks about security needs and what to do about lost and stolen devices. The reason I was so interested is because we recently joined in on a conversation on “Device Wiping” on the Enterprise Mobility Forum (which we’ve mention before), so I found the timing to be spot on. They also have a good discussion on why you need a mobile help desk.

Finally, in lieu of Veterans Day, Wavelink would like to extend a big thanks to all the Veterans out there!

More on the new “Mobility” of Devices

One of the better blogs/forums for mobility news is the Enterprise Mobility Forum. Much of the time the topics are focused on consumer side discussions, but I always find the topics relative, well-developed, and insightful. I recently came across this article which discusses the new Motorola ES400 and what it means to the enterprise mobility landscape.

The idea is that there is a growing demand for devices that, as the author describes, “marry the best features of a smartphone such as a sleek form factors and an intuitive UI with the durability of a rugged device.” We’ve blogged about this in various extents before (here and here) and I couldn’t agree more… while the need for traditional ruggedized computers will always remain, there is huge potential to extend the benefits of ruggedized computers to new markets and industries. I’m sure over the next few years we’ll see more and more devices like the Motorola ES400, and I’m interested to see what the future holds as the mobile device industry evolves.

Anyway, tell us what you think and check out the links above!

Broadband Devices Driving Mobile Market Gains

I actually just saw this headline this morning in another popular blog spot and the timing seemed appropriate. We are seeing a huge upswing in the need for organizations to track, monitor and manage personal and business-class devices. Unlike traditional AIDC devices, most business class devices are designed for Broadband first and Wi-Fi second, putting a lot more data on the cellular carrier networks.

I find it interesting that the article talks in terms of market saturation, but what I am also hearing here is the potential for network saturation. One of the things that Wavelink Engineering has spent significant time on is making sure that a multi-modal Mobile Device will choose the best medium for updates, and restricting large updates to only those connections that meet a configurable minimum adapter link speed.

The article also talks about the efficiency and cost-effective nature of text messaging. We thought about that too. We can reach out to a multi-modal device first using SMS messaging to ask it to perform an update without knowing whether Wi-Fi or Broadband is available. When the device receives the message requesting an update, it can automatically choose the best network to perform that update.

Anyway, I’m watching the growth of iPhone, Android and Blackberry closely, and I’ll be curious to see how it plays itself out in the AIDC market.