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Mobility

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

The technology that does not tie you down to one place and provides you the

scope to move around without compromising on the service is how some CIOs we

have interacted with prefer to define mobility. Such a service would let a user

access data seamlessly and securely whenever and wherever. What are glaringly

missing from both definitions and descriptions of enterprise requirements are

references to traditional concepts or terms like 'wireless', 'notebook'

and so forth. But is the definition of 'mobility' changing to exclude that

wireless and notebook be a part of mobility? We do believe that for mobility to

happen there has to be wirelessness, which need not be tied to 802.11 based

networks and can include cellular (GSM, GPRS, CDMA, EDGE, what-have-you) ones as

well.

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We do not deny that for true mobility to happen, one still needs a portion of

it (viz. the applications) to be largely static. But these are changing too.

Below, we explore the rapidly advancing possibilities to mobile enable your

enterprise.

Voice mobility



With voice moving to VOIP, it is worth discussing voice mobility here. Voice
mobility is about getting a call to your office switched to your phone

regardless of where you are. The main hurdle to this is legal in nature. The

technology is forcing the big elephants of telecom and telecom policy formation

to dance and voice mobility can become a reality in a few years. Internet

telephony over mobiles or Mobile IP is a scalable mechanism that helps

organizations offer seamless roaming among wireless networks anywhere. Mobile IP

supports applications such as media streaming and VPN without interrupting

service when you roam.

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Skype is already offering VoIP with Wi-Fi enabled smartphones. The Nokia 6136

uses UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology to provide access to GSM services

over unlicensed spectrum technologies like WLAN and Bluetooth. More such

solutions are on the way in the next few years for those who use any cellphone

with Internet capabilities.

Mobility Distros
Puppy Linux (www.puppylinux.com):

This is a small Linux distribution that can be installed onto USB keys and USB hard disks or run directly off a CD. The 3-files long distribution is RAMDISK based-the bootsector and one compressed file containing the entire file system of the distribution. Each copy has Abiword, Gxine audio-video player, Gnumeric for spreadsheet, Gaim for IM, Ical/Gabby/Agenda for calendaring and 15 other application categories with two or three applications for each

category.

Mojopac (www.mojopac.com): A small OS that can run most Windows applications and some games. Its USP is its portability. All you need to do is download the light-weight installer from the website and run it to install the OS onto your USB key. Then install your applications as you need them to the USB key by following the wizard that comes up. Now, anywhere you go, simply select to boot off the USB key from the PC or notebook and use your own PC with your applications, settings/configuration and data kept intact. Mojopac can also install onto prepared iPods and regular PC hard drives. 

Mobile video conferencing



Modern cellphones enable you to do everything a desktop PC can do and also give
you mobility. Simple connectivity to the Web and e-mail on the move are buzz

words of the past. New technologies are aimed at 3G and 4G broadband services.

Similar bottlenecks of infrastructure, cost and hardware exist in this arena.

Connectivity for this while available abroad is still a widely unavailable

technology-3G and EDGE. We still have gone only upto GPRS in India which

offers a maximum data rate of 14.4 Kbps while EDGE offers 384 Kbps which is

necessary for video conferencing.

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3G-H.324/M



This is an extension of the H.324 standard for the mobile world. The idea is to
provide multimedia telephony services in CS (circuit-switched) networks similar

to how H.323 is used in PS (packet-switched) environments. The premise of H.324

is to enable an abstraction of the capabilities voice/video network and its

connected devices to be transparent to the end-user.

A user would directly dial out to the desired end point similar to dialing a

PSTN or cellular number without needing to know what data rate, codec and other

specifications are to be used. H.324 would be supported as a baseline over PSTN

networks and a choice of 3GPP/UMTS, H.320, H.310/H.311 and H.322 would be used

on LANs where there is a Guaranteed QoS in place. The modem pole at the

interconnection between a H.324 and H.320 network would use GSM-AMR as the audio

codec, H.263 as the video codec, H.245 and H.223 for system control and mux/demuxing

respectively. The interconnection point would use an IWF (Inter Working

Function) to convert between one network and another. Such an IWF must be placed

within each network edge-if placed outside the network, the network will be

unaware of the existence of the IWF.

Our April 2006 CIO survey shows that notebook penetration levels are still low (10% or less) within enterprises. 75% of the organizations had plans to improve WiFi deployments
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UMTS



The Third Generation Partner Project 2 (known as 3GPP) was initially formed to
evolve CDMA2000 (a part of the IMT-2000 family). IMT-2000 uses frequencies

between 1885-2025 and 2110-2200 MHz. The 3GPP group is divided into four

functional groups: Radio Access, Core Network, Terminal and Services and System

Aspects. UMTS offers teleservices and bearer services for communication networks

point to point or to multiple points. Teleservices include speech as well as

short-text based messaging. One can also transfer an ongoing session between

access points with renegotiation of service characteristics. Data rates can vary

between 144 kbits/s and 2048 kbits/s depending on usage and connectivity type

(satellite, outdoor or indoor). Based on this, QoS can be set up to provide

conversational, streaming, interactive or background class service for apps that

can range from video telephony and gaming to e-mail and SMS. Current maximum

data rate supported over UMTS is 11 Mbit/s while 384 kbit/s and 2 Mbit/s are

possible on R99 and HSPDA based endpoints.

One 'killer application' that was envisaged over 3G networks was video

conferencing. But as we have said above already, this has still not caught on

even in advanced countries like Japan and Singapore. Live TV and mobile gaming

are other apps for this technology.

Internet Mobility Protocol (IMP)



This is a new protocol invented by Netmotion Wireless (US Patent #7136645) to
add session state, performance improvements as well as security to data over

wireless networks. To implement IMP, you need to deploy a Mobility Mgmt Server

and Mobility End Points, which act as the server and client pieces of the

architecture, implementing the different aspects of the protocol. In effect,

this becomes a new layer in the communication schema that takes care of the

problems in the old one.

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Internet-based services



Several vendors, like Lucent's MiLife and AnyPath solution suites, are
offering solutions for enterprises that let them integrate voice, billing and

messaging services into one application. MiLife packs a real-time billing

application, an OSA/Parlay gateway that helps bridge enterprise IT and telecom

solutions, a VoiceXML gateway to extend VPN services to mobile business users

and a speech-enabled messaging system. These are optimized to run over 3G and/or

CDMA networks.

Security issues in mobility
Malware



These are proving to be a major security threat on the mobile because of
increased programmability of these devices given the cross-platform tools

now available (including J2ME and .NET/CE platforms) as well as the number

of applications that are now available for mobiles. There are 760 viruses

for the Symbian OS based devices and 17 for Windows CE devices. These

spread over Bluetooth, GPRS and CDMA links masquerading as themes,

wallpapers, ringtones and MMSes. Once installed, they drop system files

into the mobile device and spread by messaging themselves (if the

phone/PDA supports it) to everyone on your address book. To keep your

mobile device away from infection, don't open attachments or files

unless you expect them and so on. But curing an infected device can prove

to be a costly firmware reset. Some common mobile worms include: Cabir,

Doomboot, Cdropper, Cardtrp, Stealwar, Skulls and Locknut. Encryption is

of course one of the means to achieve partial security. MediaCrypt's

IDEA NXT is a technology that provides encryption for digital media,

communications and storage. The IDEA technology itself was developed to

replace DES (another encryption algorithm) that's been in use since the

1970's.

SMS phishing



Unlike a computer system where an IP address doesn't really give the
phisher any real personal information, a cellphone number is valuable

enough. Therefore, an SMS message designed to scare the recipient into

calling a number to enquire about something (like a fake expensive

purchase confirmation) would provide the attacker confirmation of validity

of a user. The SMS itself would have been sent to a large pool of

automatically generated phone numbers most of which need not be in use at

all. Once the number is confirmed the user is flooded with premium rate

advertising billed to their account.

Direct Push



Push e-mail is not new to mobiles-the Blackberries have featured Push-based
e-mail services for long. But, Microsoft has gotten into the act now, with their

Direct Push Technology as an alternative to this on their Windows Mobile

devices. It keeps your mobile Outlook data in sync with Directory based Exchange

servers, compresses mail for faster transmission and better bandwidth

utilization, transmissions over HTTP (avoiding special gateways for other

protocols) and does connection-level encryption.

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Power still an issue



Li-ion and polymer-based batteries have been around for over two decades now.
And the credit for it goes to Sony. These conventional batteries have become

lighter, efficient and more compact over the years.

Recently Sony was in the news about a problem with Li-ion batteries they

make. Apparently their manufacturing line had left bits of metal inside some

models of their battery packs which caused short circuits leading to the

notebooks they were in to catch fire. This caused notebook manufacturers like

Toshiba, HP, Lenovo and Matsushita to recall their notebooks' batteries in the

largest battery-recall exercise. That aside, would the power these batteries can

efficiently put out soon come to a fizzling end given that the world has just

started to see yet more powerful processors?

SANYO has developed an ultra-thin (under 4mm) & ultra-light lithium

polymer battery with better performance and reliability. Li-polymer batteries

employ a new gel-type electrolyte to provide power to the most demanding

application in the hand-held world.

Fuel and nano-tube based cells may be the answer to these problems. Micro

fuel cells or MFCs use chemical reaction to produce energy. While there are many

different types of fuel cells, the ones that are slated to replace Li-ion

batteries are the Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, or DMFCs. These combine methanol,

water and air to produce electricity. Their benefits are plenty. They offer a

far higher energy potential, resulting in much longer battery life (as much as

10 times) over the conventional batteries. They're more environment-friendly

with water and heat being their byproducts. Moreover, to recharge them, you

don't need to hunt for a power outlet, nor do you need to carry a separate power

adapter with you.

Instead, simply replacing or refilling the methanol cartridge does the job.

So, fuel cell powered devices are free from AC power. Fuel cells are also free

from the potential hazards that exist in the conventional batteries, as happened

to Sony's batteries. To commercialize fuel cell technology, a number of issues

have to be resolved. These include regulations prohibiting them aboard aircraft

and other public transport, standardizing fuel cell cartridges and establishing

sales networks for replenishing user-supplies. A common standard for fuel cells

may to be out sometime in '07.

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