Taking High-Speed Access On The Road

In San Diego and Washington, Verizon Wireless has implemented a data service that averages 300 Kbits per second to 500 Kbps with bursts up to 2 Mbps. The speeds are approaching broadband ability and give solution providers a more flexible alternative to Wi-Fi when selling mobile computing solutions to customers, said Paul Giobbi, president of Zumasys, a solution provider in Lake Forest, Calif..

"People still think you need to go to Starbucks to get on the Internet [away from home or the office]," Giobbi said. "This [new solution] lets you have access to Internet, e-mail and now any business application wherever you are."

A cellular approach also broadens the areas where you can implement the solution, he said. "You can take all the hot spots in the country, and it'd [cover only] about one-third the size of Rhode Island," Giobbi said. "[But] cellular is almost everywhere in the [United States]."

Zumasys recently implemented a high-speed cellular solution for Continental Laboratory Products, San Diego, that provides the field-sales force of the biological molecular research products manufacturer with the ability to remotely retrieve customer and order data from its database.

"The bottom line was, our salespeople were cowboys running their own show, with their own Act databases [from Best Software]],sometimes using that database, sometimes not. We were not able to service a customer very effectively," said Scott Cranford, vice president of sales at Continental Labs.

What Cranford wanted was a mobile computing solution for his sales force that would enable sales reps to increase their face time with customers and give them access to customer information while they were out in the field.

The solution Zumasys deployed for Continental Labs is based on 3G wide-area technology and combines Citrix Systems' MetaFrame Presentation Server, Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess high-speed wireless service, Panasonic Toughbooks laptops and Sierra Wireless' PC5220 access cards.

Zumasys was the first solution provider to roll out the new, integrated mobile-access solution, according to executives at Zumasys, Verizon Wireless and Citrix Systems.

Like many corporate environments, Continental Labs had a multivendor, multiplatform infrastructure that kept resources disparate. "It was a complete time suck for our IT department," Cranford said. "When Zumasys came up with Citrix [MetaFrame Presentation Server], it was a great solution that would have an immediate impact."

The solution enables users to download a 1-Mbyte e-mail attachment, such as a small PowerPoint presentation, or to receive three digital photographs in less than three seconds, according to New York-based Verizon. The carrier expects to expand availability of its BroadbandAccess service beyond San Diego and Washington later this year.

While most wireless services offer e-mail and Internet, the killer app for wireless will be the ability to remotely access any application, Giobbi said. "We showed Continental Labs the slower service, then we showed them the faster card. There was a night-and-day difference. It's like comparing dial-up to cable. Whether it's Act, a legacy database, order entry [or] inventory, you should be able to get the same apps in your office while you're sitting at a customer's site."

The solution is not without its challenges. The wireless cards don't fit perfectly into the laptops, and the sales reps sometimes have to reboot if they experience a dead spot in Verizon's service, Cranford said. "They've got a ways to go, but I'm ahead of the curve, which I like. I'm more responsive to customers, which I like. My sales force has increased productivity, which I like. The company is communicating 100 percent better. There are a lot of benefits," he said.