I’m specifically using pharmaceutical trials as an example because they are some of the most costly and exacting in terms of data management and collection. If there is a solution that benefits this industry, it can be adopted to nearly any other vertical market with identical benefits.

The leader is in this area is Numoda, which is setting the standard for wireless data capture and can miraculously get a typical project into a wireless environment in as little as three weeks (case histories of a few days exist).

While Numoda offers services for the financial community, government, insurance, and especially industries focused on sales or other types of businesses that rely on field reps, their work in pharmaceuticals is particularly notable, especially for their extraordinary returns on investment, which are guaranteed (for any industry segment) at a minimum of 200 percent and have been documented as high as 1,000 percent.

Pre-wireless, new forms had to be printed and distributed to account for the addition or deletion of patient information. With a wireless solution in place, amendments are no longer encumbering in the least, since all that is required is an interface update, which can be handled when the data from the device is uploaded. Gone is the expense of designing new forms, printing updated ones, or storing new and old versions.

Furthermore, these fully electronic studies greatly enhance the security of CRFs because no one has physical access to the paperwork. Since the data is completely digital, the CRFs do not have to be physically stored, nor do they ever have to be accounted for or eventually destroyed at the end of the trial. The processes described, which include protocol preparation and case report form preparation, database programming and data entry cleanup, and costs related to incomplete paperwork, typically total about $680,000 for a manually conducted trial. However, this figure is reduced to a mere $29,500, about 95 percent less, with the introduction of Numoda’s mobile technology.

However, the biggest expense is incurred in relation to managing the up to 30 sites typical of a larger trial. A budget of about $3 million is average for site monitoring and management as well as general project management.

The reason these expenses are so high is that clinical trials have complex requirements. Patients have to be seen at different times, in differ-ent stages of the trial. For example, at a particular site there are 4 investigators, each screening 40 patients; each investigator conducting the trial on the 38 of those who make it through screening, all coming in at different dates, days, weeks, months, and even years apart. Each patient has to come in for four or more visits, all within a precise and documented time frame. Now keep in mind that this could be happening in as many as 30 sites in 30 different states.

Before the integration of a wireless solution, it was impossible for a site monitor, the person who oversees the trial, to be certain all the CRFs were being completed by the appropriate person at the appropriate time in accordance with protocols, their amendments, and the rigorous standards for controls, blinding, randomization, and size. It is the responsibility of the site monitors to ensure and eventually prove the integrity of the data; therefore, they tend to be a fastidious group, traveling constantly from site to site to ensure accuracy during the manual data collection process.

The frequent flier accounts of site monitors are not what they used to be for those who use Numoda’s solution. Now much of the monitoring is done remotely, by viewing the results electronically. Because the inefficiencies have been eliminated (most notably the accuracy of the inputted data), the monitor has complete confidence in the interim results viewed without having to physically check the patient case report forms. Being able to catch potential errors in near real time avoids fines for FDA violations due to nonadherence to FDA guidelines, something often discovered months or years into a trial, when it’s close to impossible to fix.

The biggest benefit outside of the monetary advantage is that Numoda’s real-time reporting assures that the clinical trial is maintaining its goals and quality of data today, not four months later when the paper trail catches up and it is determined that an amendment is necessary. Using the nonwireless, nonelectronic method, in just four months several dozens of patients could be enrolled, several hundreds of pages of data collected, and several millions of dollars wasted.

Now, instead of millions being frittered away, millions are saved. The bottom line is that even with Numoda’s service fee of $366,000 (based on the parameters above), the net cost reduction totals more than $2.6 million. This means that a budget of $4.75 million for a manual trial is reduced to about $2.15 million, a 63 percent savings, and a return on investment of 712 percent.

You as consumers, the idea of converging communication really has appeal only where portability is concerned. It’s much easier to carry only one device. With one devices you can use to communicate with person, any where in any format. People will take pragmatic approach to adapt converging communication as cost is still a big concern

For your companies, convergence network may remove the requirement for separate voice and data networks. Your company’s communications infrastructure can be converged, reducing spending on everything from voicemail to long distance and creating new features like unified messaging and remote calling. A converged network cut off the need for duplicate hardware and vendors who manage separate service or provider. Thereby, the amount of resources you need is reduced significantly. Cost wise, is will cut significant reduction to adapt this new technologies, this is different with consumers approaches as mentioned above.

While this new approach to how we communicate is making big changes and save cost definitely, there are several drawbacks which can not be overlooked. The problem with communication convergence is that the technology and device isn’t exactly there yet. Major researches and trials have been taken in upgrading the technology to be adapted widely. It will take sometimes for technology to be matured. Until then, it is anticipated that the early adopters will facing several issues as well. Bellow are five limitation of communication convergence that you must know.

1. Bandwidth limitation
Bandwidth limitation is the big No to deploy convergence networks. Each of those different services needs optimal bandwidth for their own transport. Sometimes it needs to make prioritizing due to limited bandwidth, but this also will bear the consequences. If all those services are engaged at the same time, as a result, burst traffic which may not be handled by prioritizing. At the end the service quality will be suffered.

2. Decrease in Quality of Service
As mentioned above, this limitation is as result of bandwidth restriction or any other factors. Drop of quality is occurred when at the same time multiple services were being transported over the same network. Let say you are engaging in VoIP conversation, and then you need to download files from internet. You then experience voice quality drop instantly. To overcome this problem, service prioritizing where VoIP conversation is favored over the less important downloading. But even though now you have decent bandwidth, it’s a little bit challenging to maintain the quality of service when other types of communication are combined.

3. Devices limitation
Convergence device, tools and support are still few in number in the market. The few that exist already are expensive, and most of the time unaffordable to many. This is changing, though as many bigger player in networking area are adopting to this technology. Clearly we will see more devices for communications convergence in the future, and come at more affordable prices.

4. Applications limitation
The early applications for convergence communication are telemedicine, distance learning, and contact center applications. But most of these are in the area of researches. There’s lack of usable applications from a consumer point of view. Until recently, we saw a driving need from a business perspective. If a business or organization can combine all of the avenues it has for convergence communications into one, wouldn’t it make sense that the organization could save tremendous amounts of money and conduct business more efficiently?

5. Security treat
Having multiple services carried on the same network are appealing. But perhaps the consequence is your network now become more vulnerable than before. Imagine that someone who is making conversation at the same time can tap network to gain. VoIP itself comes with its load of voice-specific security threats and handling both on the same network can be quite challenging. [link url=http://voip.about.com/od/security/a/SecuThreats.htm]

Despite limitations above, still communications technology convergence is happening and will be widely adapted in the future. More benefits to consumers who are using convergence communication in daily basis. Even today, existing traditional telephone service providers are forced to examine the structure and future of their businesses to adapt VoIP and others service area towards unified communication.

As might be expected, some of the key proponents of a rapid introduction of 4G were manufacturers with product that they classified as being 4G cellular system. However, during the early part of 2003, the ITU, mindful perhaps of the slow and somewhat uncertain introduction of 3G, decided to put on hold any discussions about 4G systems, thus delaying the introduction of 4G network to a date of 2015, if not later.

Broadly, higher data rates require more spectrum. More spectrum can only be found higher in the frequency band but higher frequency signals have a lower propagation range. Each generation has accepted a shorter range in return for a higher data rate. Indeed, interestingly, the Japanese plans for a 4G cellular technology talk of an OFDM-based solution in the 3–6 GHz band providing up to 100 Mbits/s of data. This is almost identical to the specification for the latest W-LAN system, 802.11a, which is already available and exceeded by proposals for 802.11n.

Higher data rate systems are preferred but with their shorter range can be economically deployed only in high-density areas. So we might expect a network where 2G is used to cover rural areas, 3G to cover urban and suburban areas along with key transport corridors, and W-LANs providing very high data rates in selected ‘hotspot’ locations such as airports.

This has data rates in the region of 1–2 Mbits/s at present, much lower than the rate that the W-LAN air interface can provide. A further increase in air interface data rate in such a situation is pointless. Instead, research needs to be focused on better types of backhaul.

Hence, an argument that will continue to be developed in subsequent chapters is there may not be another generation of 4g cellular technology because there may not be sufficient economic justification for the development of a completely new standard. Instead, we might expect to see enhancements to all the different standards making up the complete communications network, with perhaps some new niche standards emerging in areas such as ultra-short range communications. This has not stopped some claiming that they already have a 4G technology, or like the Japanese, that they are working on one. Of course, since there is no widely agreed definition of what comprises a new generation, anyone is free to claim that their technology meets whatever criteria they regard as important, and with the definition of 3G already confused, perhaps we should expect 4G network to be even more opaque!

While it’s undeniable that we need time to breathe during business hours (and these mini-respites are often necessary to maintain sanity), I believe there is also a benefit (in terms of stress reduction) in being able to handle three timely e-mails a few minutes before your son’s Little League game.

Downtime can also be a revenue enhancer for professional service firms with workforces that need to keep track of the billable time they spend with clients. The makers of Timsolv, a mobile time and expense software program, estimate that up to 15 percent of a company’s billable hours are lost when the mobile workforce loses receipts or simply fails to log billable hours or expenses. However, a mobile solution solves much of the problem because of its availability.

Lyne Berg, a fictitious litigation attorney, can illustrate this point. While heading to court for an appearance, she makes three cell phone calls on three separate client matters and is easily able to account for all of them because of the timer function built into the Timsolv’s Mobile- Time Billing software running on her Palm. She arrives at the courthouse and with a few taps on her handheld records the mileage for the trip. Next, Lyne triggers the time and billing clock to track her court-time hours by selecting the client Widget Makers v. State of California and then the task code representing “court appearance.” At the end of the day, Lyne stops on the courthouse steps and quickly enters a description of the appearance events, then taps the “submit” button, whereby the information accumulated during the day is automatically sent and instantly integrated in the firm’s accounts receivable system. All for less than $10 per month per user.

Attorneys are a natural choice to demonstrate the power of mobile time and billing because they are frequently away from their offices and have to account for dozens of clients and an equal number of incremental tasks. From what I understand from my friends who are legal secretaries, their bosses are notorious for failing to log billable time, and the end of the month is a time for high-stakes frustration as they try to piece together what they did for whom and when. Ditto for consultants, accountants, and the entire galaxy of service professionals.

• The industry has relied on regular injections of new spectrum. Without a new generation to pull this through, regulators will need alternative mechanisms. It is possible that spectrum trading, in the process of being introduced around the world in 2006, might provide this solution.
• Much research and development (R&D) over the last 20 years has been focused on more efficient mechanisms to transmit information. This is now increasingly hitting the laws of diminishing returns.
• Conversely, as the number of different technologies being used grows the complexity of making them all work together increases.
• The manufacturing industry has relied on new generations to stimulate spending throughout the industry. The end of the generation game will require them to adopt a different strategy.

As a final conclusion on the developments taking place in 2006, many of the proposed ‘4G Network solutions were based on OFDM modulation. Claims were being made that OFDM was the new modulation of choice for 4G Network in the way that CDMA had become for 3G Network.

OFDM does not offer significant improvements in performance, but may be a pragmatic solution under certain circumstances. Therefore, we are not of the view that there needs to be a change to from CDMA to OFDM in order to realize significant gains in throughput. Equally, we are not suggesting that OFDM is inferior to other technologies, it just offers a different mix of trade-offs.

When choosing the right wireless broadband mobile card, the question is which vendor to choose. For existing users, it is crucial to get and maintain the best wireless service.

In the following, we conduct comparative tests used to look at the products from different wireless broadband mobile card manufacturers. This method is very simple, by using laboratory tests by consumers if they try to use new products. What you need is a laptop or handheld computer, then go to different areas may need a wireless mobile broadband card in a non-strict scrutiny test.

Testing Wireless Broadband Mobile Card

One best way to do the test is by getting several cards with wireless high-speed, get as much you can. Beginning with the most popular wireless broadband mobile card would be a good choice. We use a week test to get consistently good test data.

Off course, we can to other alternative test products in different locations to see how they react. Some service providers offer the most popular mobile broadband wireless card, such as Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon. Previous tests have shown that most; if not all wireless cards had good results when used in an urban area. The real test will occur if you are rural or more than 40 miles to be transferred from the urban area.

Method to Use in Wireless Broadband Mobile Card

A non-strict control test of wireless broadband card is letting in a mobile flash speed test. Using internet website of Broadband DSL Reports is a good source for such tests, including Flash 8 plug-in-Based Speed Test site to appear. There are links to other platforms, but can do this test speed such a good job. The test is performed with the Flash speed test on a server located in a region has done, then run again on another server in a completely different field. If coming from the East Coast to West Coast, then the results would represents better performance indication.

Previous tests have shown that the majority of wireless broadband mobile card suppliers; Wireless cards do the same if the receiving data. However, some cards such as Verizon has shown higher loading speed. This is for those who pursue the activity to take advantage as downloading. With very little difference in performance of the cards, the choice extends to software and services.

Testing the Software (Driver and Utilities)

Each card provides mobile wireless broadband vendor is come with preloaded software. Weather it is driver or utilities software, both software are proprietary software. This software is necessary to establish a connection between the wireless adapter and the construction of the station.

The procedure for testing the software is its ease of use for implementing the basic functions include: the driver installation, device configuration, identity access and connect with suppliers.

The Type of Service Provided

Most manufacturers of wireless cards for mobile broadband have their own website where you pay to have access to services such as account management, billing and coverage maps, which show the services available. Performance especially at eye level with other providers of these services to another which is characterized by FF: coverage, reliability and customer service.

There is other thing to look at when selecting a provider of broadband wireless card is wireless broadband card supplier commitment to new technologies development coming in the near future to treat, such as WiMax and LTE. It should be ready to compete with these new technologies or adapt existing services.

Okay, so I’m a little emphatic on this point. But my passion stems from stats. Productivity flourishes when data flows.

Ford Motor Company, in an effort to create a more connected workforce, agrees. The multinational corporation wanted to extend the company’s intranet and groupware applications, like Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes, to mobile devices to give their employees a wider net of information, as well as create an easy way for executives around the world to wirelessly access key business metrics wherever they were on the planet.

Following the lead of 18 other Fortune 100 companies, Ford used AvantGo Enterprise, which is renowned for integrating existing HTML- based data (information formatted for Web sites and intranets) without investing additional developmental resources or writing any additional code. The complete installation took only a few weeks.

Ford’s wireless integration is just one example of the ease with which a groupware application wireless solution can be adapted by its users. This was unequivocally demonstrated at the 2001 World Economic Forum, where each of the 2,200 political, business, and academic leaders were given a Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC (courtesy of Compaq and Microsoft), an appropriate gesture given the event, “The Second Phase of the Digital Revolution.”

Seamlessly connected via a wireless local-area network equipped with AvantGo Enterprise software, the world leaders were able to access their fellow delegates’ biographical details (and photographs), as well as send one another e-mails directly from the devices to set up meetings. The delegates also received real-time session updates and news that they could coordinate with their personalized agenda and contact directories.

A similar success was realized by Alcatel, the telecommunications giant, at their Carrier Internetworking Division Conference. The conference had a two-part goal: first, be exclusively electronic and wireless (no paper was ever distributed); and second, use the conference to train and equip their sales and marketing delegates with their new handheld buddies.

About the same time the delegates at the World Economic Forum were having a handheld experience, Republican senators were having one, too. These members of the 107th Congress were determined to find an alternative to lugging around binders full of reports, daily agendas, press deployments, and published policy papers on more than 33 topics ranging from international affairs to the environment. The senators also required wireless intranet access, allowing them to manage their contacts, scheduling, and other vital information accessible via their intranet and Web site.

Prior to their wireless launch, a survey indicated that 7 out of 10 employees in each of the Republican Senate offices were using a handheld (Palm OS and Pocket PC) to synchronize their calendars. With 70 percent of the users already equipped, the decision was predestined.

Since deployment cost was a significant consideration, the technology department of the Republican conference chose AvantGo’s Enterprise software because it allowed the political organization to integrate their existing technology investment, easily justifying the expense.

One of the initiative’s biggest advocates was Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who refers to the PDA deployment as an attempt “to bring Republican senators into the digital world.” But the consideration goes well beyond digital literacy. Remember, these are Republican senators for whom fiscal advantages always prevail. Case in point: Santorum explained that when information packets were distributed when the Senate broke for recess, the cost to prepare them ran about $1,800. Instead, the identical material is posted and easily accessed with their PDAs . . . which they can reliably connect to from just about anywhere in D.C. except the Capitol Building’s basement, according to Santorum. Even better, since handheld devices are not classified as computers by the Senate, they are not prohibited on the Senate floor, where laptops have been banished because they are considered a mechanical device that could “distract, interrupt, or inconvenience the business or Members of the Senate.”

Handheld devices might get the same treatment if the Republicans aren’t careful about how they show off their new technology. Apparently, during a pitch from New Mexico’s Democratic senator Peter Domenici regarding the budget, Domenici remarked that the market was down by 400 points. This startling piece of information provoked Republican Santorum to access the Dow Jones chart via his Palm VII. At this point, the market was rebounding, and as Domenici finished his sentence about the plunge, Santorum announced, “No, Peter, the market is now down only a hundred.”

By the way, even if a Democrat were to swipe a Republican’s Palm VII, there would be no reconnaissance advantage. “There’s nothing on the intranet of a sensitive nature that would prove dangerous for Republicans should someone heist one of our Palms,” says Santorum.

The WiFi radio is contained on a very small card called the Mini PCI, which is functionally identical to standard desktop computer PCI Cards but can be slotted on the computer’s main board (see picture above). Many laptop manufacturers have adopted the Mini PCI form factor to add integral support for wireless networking and modems, enabling PC Card slots to remain free for other options.

The Mini PCI Card offers several advantages over current proprietary and vendor-specific integrated communications devices, which are not designed to be replaced when they fail or upgraded when technology changes. In contrast, depending on the particular system design, a service technician can replace a standard Mini PCI Card if it fails or needs an upgrade rather than replacing the entire system board, which entails a higher cost to the customer.

Mini PCI Cards can support other wireless technologies, including Bluetooth and GPRS, as well as wire technologies such as G.lite, a variation of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), and IEEE 1394, also known as FireWire. Some Mini PCI Cards also support multiple communications technologies. For example, one Mini PCI Card could provide both Bluetooth and WiFi connections. WLAN chip-set provider Intersil and Bluetooth radio maker Silicon Wave have devised a reference design called Blue802, which allows for the near simultaneous operation of the Bluetooth and WiFi wireless protocols.

A notebook equipped with a Blue802 Mini PCI Card could run a video stream to a WLAN AP while sending data to a printer via Bluetooth. This also enables PC-based Bluetooth applications such as mouse, keyboard, printing, file transfer, and portable device synchronization to run at the same time the user’s PC is connected to a network over WiFi.

Bluetooth and WiFi operate in the same 2.4 GHz radio band, but because Bluetooth employs frequency hopping, it jumps all over the band, slowing down and even terminating WiFi connections. The Blue802 technology overcomes this obstacle by using a time-slicing technique in which the two protocols are not actually running simultaneously, but switch back and forth so fast that the connection seems simultaneous.

If you can’t find that wireless router manual, look on the CD that came with the router. It is inside the box. Print them out, or read them that wireless router instructions on your computer.

Now we go for the next step in wireless router installation. Place your wireless router in the location between ISP’s modem and PC. This position will make your wireless router to get internet signal, then you can connect your laptop to internet with wireless signal broadcasted by wireless router.

Look at the back of your wireless router. You should see four ports and one other port. The 4 ports are to connect to the Internet with cabling. The other port is for accepting internet connection from your ISP. This is called the WAN or Internet port.

Now it’s the time to unplug phone cord cable from rear of your computer and connect it directly into WAN port.

You need to see the IP address of your router at the bottom of it. There you will find an IP Address, your login and your password. An IP Address is your internet address marked by 4 spaces number like: 192.168.1.1.

Link ethernet cable to your computer port, at the other end, you should put it in to ethernet port of your router. It doesn’t matter if you use a desktop or laptop. Most wireless router is accompanied by an ethernet cable. If it is not, you need to buy one, it is cheap by the way.

We are finished with hardware and cable arrangement, now it is time to do software and IP address arrangement.

Now launch your browser, and type the IP address into the address bar. You will be prompted username and password. Supply with the proper username and password. Then you will get in.

The final step is running wireless setup wizard to finalize your router configuration automatically. Now just test the wireless connection with your laptop. Check your email, browse internet, if it is OK then you are finished. If you can’t, you’ll have to do some troubleshooting or run wireless setup wizard once again.

If you can not connect to internet, check once again the router instructions, perhaps you missed something . If you still can’t solve the problem, call the manufacturer’s technical support line. Their support will guide you by providing step by steps installation.

Whatever they are called, they range from devices that merely satisfy the 802.11 (a, b, or g) specification to sophisticated gear that offers RF excellence. Either way these simple devices cost less and need less management than their more complex counterparts—their basic radio functions are unlikely to need attention, and the security and other features that need regular attention are in the traditional location—some type of central control device, i.e. an intelligent box. Furthermore, since these Simple Access Points aren’t loaded with network and user configuration data, they are of little or no interest to hackers. And if one of these simple devices is stolen, it’s rendered inoperable as soon as it’s unplugged.

Some vendors offer software that, when loaded onto a computing device that is connected to a wired LAN, enables the computing device to act as a hardware access point. These software products are reminiscent of the old Winmodem software, in that they use the computing device’s CPU to process the data flow. For example, a laptop can be easily configured to function as an Access Point with commonly available software, such as the freeware tool Host AP for Linux systems, or PCTEL, Inc.’s Segue SAM, a software access point that permits Wi-Fi-enabled computing devices to function as Access Points.

The large vendors are also getting in on the act. Intel plans to integrate “software access points” for wireless access into PCs. This extra software will let home laptop users connect to the Internet by using a wired home PC as a bridge. And Microsoft is supposedly hard at work on what it calls a “Soft Wi-Fi,” which, according to Microsoft’s press relations services, is a new driver model. The Soft Wi-Fi will allow processing currently done by the 25 MHz chip used by hardware-based access points to be performed within Windows. Thus, according to Microsoft, any Windows-based PC can function as an access point. Beware, though, that when soft APs are used within a corporate networking system, it is difficult for the IT department to keep track of them because the soft AP appears as an authorized station to all wire-side network scans.

Bundling software intelligence into an access controller or switch device (instead of distributing it out to the access points) enables the IT department to make upgrades and changes to only one device—the smart one—rather than on a per-access point basis.

It is perfect for campus environments, which require a lot of access points, because it can inexpensively increase wireless coverage.

But the downside to designing a WLAN around the AP/intelligent box approach is that the APs must be able to contact the intelligent box. Oft-times that box is located somewhere within the wired network environment, thus packets of data are required to go through twice as many plug devices before they get to the end-user. As illustration, data is transferred from the LAN switch, to the WLAN intelligent box, to the LAN switch, and then to the simple access point. Whereas, in a WLAN designed around smart Access Points, the data is transferred directly from LAN switch to AP.

Symbol’s Mobius Axon Wireless switch offers Layer 2 and 3 WLAN functions (e.g. IP inspection and load balancing), and certain Layer 4 features (e.g. HTTP, instant messaging, and security solutions such as Kerberos authentication). The layers are managed by an XML or command line interface. The switch is paired with Mobius’ “thin” Access Points. The MAC software layer has been taken out of these Access Point s and put into the wireless switch, leaving only the Physical Layer for the AP. This arrangement allows the Mobius Access Points to act simply like an Ethernet port—a wireless socket through which data packets are passed. Let’s now look at what a smart AP has to offer.

Smart Access Points
A smart access point (also known as a “fat” or “thick” AP) provides radio functionality and has most of its network intelligence in the same box, thus these devices can handle most of the protocols for roaming, encryption, management, user authentication, and so forth. Such industry giants as Cisco and Enterasys back the smart AP approach. A smart AP presents the end-users it serves to the wired network switch as if they were physically connected. Furthermore, smart Access Points reduce the load on central switches within the wired LAN, albeit at the cost of needing to be managed.

One of the downside with these Access Point s is that the smarter the AP, the higher the cost. Another is that these smart devices present very tempting targets to thieves in that they require horsepower in the form of memory and processing power. Also, if the WLAN is large with many smart Access Point s, upgrading these devices with new firmware or security features means that a technician must manually connect to each device to perform the upgrade. This can result in IT personnel lugging around ladders, screwdrivers, flashlights, etc. just to get to the various Access Points.

However, integrating network services directly into the AP enables important services to be pushed out to the first point of contact with the wireless user. The thought is that by provisioning access control lists and policies directly from the radio function, end-users can move, for example, onto another subnet in another corporate location, and still retain all their access rights.