The concept of SEDs (service-enabled devices) started way back in the ‘80s with something called tuple spaces, and later took
shape as Jini nder the guidance of Sun Microsystems. Jini came about when Bill Joy, Sun’s chief scientist, imagined a peer-to-peer world
where every device could talk to every other device: “Hello, I’m a color printer. This is my feature set and here are my printer
drivers. Would you like to access me?”
The concept sounded great but the underpinnings weren’t there yet. Today that is changing, and adoption of SEDs in the enterprise
is now getting off the ground.
Of course, like a number of interesting technologies, the early adopters of SEDs are in the consumer electronics industry,
rather than IT. Apple’s Bonjour protocol (formerly Rendezvous) connects computers and smart devices in the home. Philips has
a Wi-Fi television and there are plenty of Wi-Fi enabled digital video cameras that can upload video to the TV.
Up until now there’s been no single initiative to make this happen. Rather, a number of companies have been working on independent
tracks to develop similar technologies. But even that is beginning to change.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of Wi-Fi infrastructure vendors, is working on a technology code-named Simple Config, which
should be available in devices sometime in the third quarter. Although details are somewhat scant, Simple Config removes the
complication of getting on the network, making it simple for new devices to get authenticated and secured.
The system includes a discovery and a registration protocol that allows devices and APs to find each other and negotiate a
preshared key. Currently the spec offers two ways to accept a device: The user can enter a PIN, or vendors can actually build
in a physical “accept” button onto the product.
Again, the initial versions of Simple Config are targeted at the home market. But Devicescape Software is incorporating the
Wi-Fi Alliance technology into its WIP (Wireless Infrastructure Platform) under the brand name Easy Access, and is cutting
deals with Wi-Fi vendors who sell into the enterprise. For example, LVL7 will use WIP to design a unified switch-controlled
AP (access point) that can fall back to a stand-alone AP if the switch fails.
Over time, we will see a new breed of devices that are intertwined with the enterprise. Printers, copiers, security cameras,
and projectors will be among the first. Of course, in the short run a VoIP handset is the killer app, but getting phones on
and off the network seamlessly, without the need for user intervention, is a must before voice over WLAN becomes a reality.
We will also see Web services designed to talk directly to devices that connect to the network. In a future world built on
SOA, devices will become one component in an overall business process.
For example, we might see an application that routes a photograph of a building from a camera to a real estate office manager’s
PDA. Business rules could either hold the image in place or try a cell phone if the PDA is not available to receive. After
the image is sent, the system could ask for approval and automatically send digital signatures to the division manager. Or,
as SOA becomes part of an extraprise solution, we might even see a FedEx delivery scanner that downloads delivery information,
not to FedEx HQ, but to the sender’s billing system and CRM application.
Who says hardware is boring?
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