Nokia Local Business Connectivity Solution comprises: the Service Manager LBM 10; the Service Point LBP 10; and a software client.
The Service Manager LBM 10 is a piece of software loaded onto either a Windows or Linux server for end-user, device, application, and Service Point management. The Service Point LBP 10 is an appliance with Bluetooth, LAN, and optionally, WLAN, GPRS, or SMS connectivity. There are also three Bluetooth radios, each serving up to seven phones.
This technology is an enabler for mobile device management by the corporate IT department, said Torsti Tenhunen, head of marketing and sales of local interactions for NVO. An obvious application here is email synching over the corporate WLAN instead of over the air with mobile operators, particularly where you have high-volume downloads such as attachments. A less obvious one is laptop-like centralized management by IT, who can now control and update the applications on the phones.
The system can only be used in private or corporate WLAN environments because security concerns rule out public WLAN. It can be used to push out applications, updates, patches, and even whole new images.
The client software is available only for Series 60 and Series 80 phones from the Espoo-based vendor, but Jouni Malinen, venture manager for local interactions at NVO, said: We want to build something systems integrators can use with other devices. We’ve run trials, for instance, with Bluetooth-enabled barcode readers talking directly to the Service Point.
There are also more limited use scenarios in which the system can interact with Bluetooth devices not carrying the client, include Nokia’s Digital Pen. For phones without the client, the company proposes applications such as work hour reporting, security personnel location, and sending information via SMS or MMS to the end user. The barcode trials similarly had no clients on the devices.
In these scenarios, a device that enters the reception range of a Service Point (30 meters, or up to 100 meters for a WLAN connection) will automatically be detected and the relevant application enabled without the need for user intervention. Another advantage of the system, said Malinen, is that downloads coming in over the Bluetooth or WLAN connection on the handset leave the cellular channel free for use.
The technology could have other applications, said Tenhunen. It could sense your presence and turn on your PC or turn up the lights, for instance. The system can also be used for remote diagnostics. If you have a technical problem, someone in the IT department can grab your screen and see what’s happening on your machine, he said.
No pricing information is available, but Malinen did say NLBCS will be priced on a per-user, per-feature licensing basis for the Service Manager, with an additional price for each Service Point acquired. On a technical level, the Service Point can talk directly to the end device over Bluetooth, whereas if the option is a WLAN connection, it talks to whatever access point is in place in the environment. The WLAN connectivity on the Service Point is exclusively for talking to the back end for purposes of authentication and so on. Any updates to the end device will also go over the AP in this scenario, said Malinen.
Though the company will sell the offering directly to companies, he said the primary route to market will be through partners. At the Nokia Enterprise Forum in Berlin where the system was announced, Fujitsu Services Oy, the Finnish arm of the Japanese group’s services division, said it has developed an offering service based on NLBCS.
Everyone thinks you need to use particular push or sync technologies for remote management, but this way we simply use system level access to do everything remotely and automatically, said development manager Juha Korsimaa. He said the offering will be offered globally. We provide WLAN service for corporates within buildings and partner with operators for external networking, with GSM as a secondary route where WLAN connectivity isn’t available, he said.
As for competition, Malinen said there is similar functionality for some Windows CE-based devices. For instance, your PC can detect automatically if a Windows-based PDA comes within range, recognizing it over Bluetooth and synching data accordingly. There are also some purpose-built solutions for specific verticals.
Nokia can therefore to some extent be considered to be in catch-up mode in enabling its Symbian-based devices to be centrally managed and updated in the same way as Windows PDAs. However, the management comes from a server in the IT department rather than an individual user’s PC, and the Finnish developer is clearly thinking about the next wave of enterprise mobility, in which the IT department takes over the procurement process, rather than seeing individual devices making their way into the company through ad hoc purchases by the end users.
Nokia’s ambitions are also greater in terms of the range of products to be managed with NLBCS. The barcode trials are one example of this, but non-Nokia products are on its roadmap. We’re open to feedback, said Malinen. In addition, the vendor has no Symbian devices for the CDMA market, and does not address that segment of enterprise mobility, which is smaller in global terms but larger than GSM in the US and the rest of the Americas. We’ll have NLBCS for the CDMA market later, he said.
