Right to the point

THEY CALL IT point of activity networking, a nice descriptive term, which simply makes the obvious observation that with wireless connectivity, you can extend your network beyond the three walls of a cubicle. However, by reading between the lines, we can see broader implications.

But first, when it comes to wireless, between the concept and the reality lies a wide chasm called reliability. One company looking to solve the immediate problem to reap the broader benefits is Sears.

Based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., Sears will issue 12,000 Itronix GoBook laptops to its service technicians. These Windows XP devices include a CDPD (cellular digital packet data) antenna, Wi-Fi radios, and a 20GB hard drive.

On the roof of each Sears van, the company also is installing an antenna pod that turns skyward and connects to satellites if the CDPD network is unavailable. Even if the network goes down in the middle of a transaction, the satellite kicks in and completes it. Thus, it's always connected and always reliable, sun spots excluded.

Wireless Matrix, based in Calgary, Alberta, owns the satellites and operates a multinetwork wireless service.

Using the GoBooks, technicians are able to access manuals, look at diagrams, and even watch a parts installation video, says Tom Turner, CEO of Itronix, based in Spokane, Wash. This deployment will mean more calls per day and more revenue for Sears, Turner notes.

Next up from Itronix will be the GoBook 2, which will make the company one of the first to deploy roaming technology to allow seamless switching between IEEE 802.11x networks and wide area networks, using its iCare Mobility Server and Mobility Client software. The iCare software takes care of reauthenticating users and making sure there are no dropped frames. The rest of the wireless industry is about 18 months behind Itronix in deploying similar technology.

So it may take Wi-Fi, a paging network like CDPD, and satellites, but reliability is possible if that will make a difference to your company.

I also spoke with Col. Donald J. Welch, associate dean for information and educational technology at West Point Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. He hopes that the use of Wi-Fi will change and improve how West Point educates its cadets. "We are not trying to use technology to bore them more efficiently," Welch says.

Welch gives as an example students in a freshman composition class submitting a paragraph that can be immediately discussed, critiqued, and corrected with full class participation.

Welch calls it "active learning" and there is no doubt that this kind of assignment benefits from group discussion.

To paraphrase the colonel, if all technology does is allow us to do the same things a bit more efficiently, then technology has for the most part failed. Technology should change what we do. And by the way, that, at least up until now, takes imagination, not exactly a PC's strong suit.