Google’s Android and WiMax, Users Win
PeteI
Video anytime, anywhere, got a major shot in the arm within the last week, with the Google announcement about Android, a new open platform for mobile devices. Developments behind Android are being spearheaded by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of over 30 well known companies including Intel, Qualcomm, Motorola, Sprint and LG among others. There are still open issues with how the Open Handset Alliance operates in conjunction with Google and the precise role each company will play with respect to Android is still not fully clear. To consumers an open standard for mobile handsets is what will deliver on the dream of anytime, anywhere communications.

If one takes a closer look we find that many of the companies that support WiMax also seem to be supporting this push for an open handset standard. It shouldn’t come as a surprise with the major benefits that WiMax brings to users. With the increase in both connection speeds and mobile reach, the end user will be a big winner. Eliminating the walls that traditional carriers have put up has been the desire of users for some time now, but without the marketing and financial clout of someone like Google we the user were stuck without a good choice. What some seem to be missing is by opening this mobile handset standard, when combined with the deployment of WiMax, users and software developers will finally be able to fully leverage the reach of the web. This new openness would allow mobile handsets to function more like PCs. We the user would have the ability to download and customize our handsets in ways that were previously impossible. Just as WiMAX has a goal to make mobile connectivity meet the standards of connectivity one would experience on a home or office computer, Android aims to provide freedoms that previously did not translate over from PC to mobile device. It certainly appears that this set of well known companies have a common goal in mind, enhancing the user experience on the mobile web.

Back on March 2nt I wrote a blog that discussed the benefits of Wireless Collaborative Video anytime, Anywhere. I have reposted that blog below. With the combination of Android and WiMax, the deployment of applications like the ones described below become a true reality

Imagine having to rebuild and maintain forty electric power substations in Iraq with insurgents determined to stop you at any cost. For security reasons the engineering experts are reluctant to travel to these substations in order to do routine maintenance and installation. Today project engineers can manage a project of this magnitude remotely. Using a wireless laptop at one end and a wireless PDA at the remote site allowing the expert to direct the work being done at the remote site. The expert can visually communicate in real time with the lower skilled local labor at the substations. The expert has complete control of the camera, frame rate and window size of the video feed, including a 10-1 zoom capability.

Imagine a traffic accident with a seriously injured individual in need of critical care and the paramedic has the capability to visually collaborate with the ER doctor before the injured individual is put in the ambulance. The ER doctor has full visual access to the injured person, can view and zoom on the injuries, has access to real time vital signs and is consulting with the paramedic on what steps might be taken to help save a life at the scene.

Police, fire, emergency medical, and other first responder applications can utilize these new video collaboration applications for any number of critical field situations while conferring with centralized experts for immediate assistance. These applications are deployable today because of the growth of broadband IP networks, followed by the explosion of WiFi hot spots.

Video conferencing is trending perhaps away from the sole arena of the boardroom toward ubiquity associated with the desktop, wireless laptop and even the PDA. This trend will undoubtedly continue to the point where, at some point, we all use it and take it for granted in our daily routine. It is also trending towards integration with broader collaboration applications, such that video conferencing becomes more than “talking heads”. Collaboration has been an explosive market in general and is now poised to be taken to a much higher plane through the addition of video-rich functionality. Infrastructure support for video conferencing is extending to include wireless, wearable, mobile components to facilitate “anywhere, anytime” collaborative experiences. Current trends also support higher quality experiences for lower bandwidth and lower associated service costs. At the same time, the services that provide these experiences are trending towards implementation using secure virtual networks that use specialized tunnels to penetrate through such corporate adoption obstacles like firewalls.

As simple video conferencing as a concept gives way to more interactive video collaborative experiences, the users will be able to share and solve problems remotely much more effectively than previously possible. Products that support live, real-time video collaboration seamlessly intermixed with remotely controlled review of recorded media will enable new paradigms of teamwork. An expert in one part of the country will be much more effective by helping someone in a remote location when he can see first-hand details of the problem “live” while talking to the person being served, with perhaps simultaneous reference to data recorded earlier at the site. Sessions such as this will be able to be archived and transmitted to other experts, therefore enabling quick access to additional help. Teamwork is therefore made much more effective with these more remote collaboration solutions.

The real goal is to make real-time video collaboration both as easy to use and as ubiquitous as a cell phone. Technologies need to be applied to collapse distance and time barriers that transcend the roadblocks inadvertently constructed by the IT infrastructures in place today. These infrastructures prevent many effective communication venues in their implementation of policies to control bandwidth and security. Eliminating the single largest obstacle impacting greater adoption is the issue of firewall traversal. As has been shown over and over again, IT departments are allergic to the notion of manipulating their network infrastructure to accommodate new applications and tools. Addressing that problem by incorporating a secure tunneling mechanism that obsolete the need for IT personnel to get involved in the deployment will make adoption much easier. As the ubiquity associated with collaboration tools achieves the success of the cell phone, the mobile workforce will enjoy an effectiveness that eliminates its disadvantages.