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Home > Mobile Computing News > Air Force base capitalizes on wireless system from IBM |
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Wireless is beginning to prove that it's well worth its cost by the savings it offers when it comes to logistics. Now, an Air Force base in Ogden, Utah, is hoping to save millions of dollars with a souped-up wireless system from IBM Corp. Officials at Hill Air Force Base think that wireless applications can help them get their work done more quickly. The base's maintenance unit repairs and transfers parts for F16, A10 and C130 fighter jets at three locations. The problem is that, once a part repaired, it can take as long as 26 hours for that part to be picked up. That's an expensive delay, says Mike Neri, Internet logistics and e-business branch chief of the Ogden Air Logistics Center. He estimates that it costs the Air Force $15 million a day for equipment that is down at the Ogden base. Neri's goal is to cut that time by a day. He took a big bite out of the lag time by replacing a paper-based process with an electronic database. That cut the down time to an average of 11 hours. But one significant problem remained. Often trucks would pull into a base to drop off equipment and leave without ever realizing that they could have picked up parts on their way out. The information about what was ready to be picked up was not accessible to drivers until they returned to the dispatcher. So Neri began to look for a wireless solution to keep his drivers connected. He considered a number of approaches, but finding a single vendor that covered all of his needs, including security and remote management, was important. The only vendor that fit the criteria, he says, was IBM. Using IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Access middleware and application server, Neri is building a system that he hopes will dramatically boost productivity. Now, when drivers leave the warehouse, they log on to a logistics system. They are tracked with global positioning satellite receivers that provide dispatchers with their locations. When a shipment needs to be picked up, dispatchers can find out which truck with the available space is nearest. Some trucks will be outfitted with radio frequency identification tags, so that when inventory is moved on or off the truck it is automatically noted in the database. Others will be able to use handheld devices to note deliveries and pickups, which will be synced to the database in real time. Right now, Neri is testing one of the more complex elements of the system: roaming. The maintenance centers are equipped with 802.11b wireless local area networks. But that connectivity does not work when trucks are on the road and they need to receive information about shipments. So the system allows the drivers to connect to the Wi-Fi network when in the warehouse and to the wide area network when they are on the road. IBM's approach has worked well so far, Neri says. Security has been an issue and, because this is the Air Force, the system must comply with very strict federal rules regarding the processing of information. Neri is using a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all the traffic, and he is beginning to use a public key infrastructure (PKI) system. The biggest problem so far has been managing user expectations, Neri said. Once executives heard about the mobile deployment, he said, everyone wanted to get in on it. He was flooded with requests for mobile access to e-mail and other network-based information. That's great, he said, but the demand on the system pulls the focus from return on investment. While the wireless market is filed with a number of small startups with good mobile applications, the large and established IBM has taken a smart approach to wireless, said Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing for Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Access allows a great amount of freedom in terms of presenting appropriate user interfaces to different devices. The application server, which includes the middleware, separates the back-end data from the front-end interface, which makes it very flexible. IBM is serious about its commitment to the mobile market, said Joe Damassa, vice president of marketing for IBM pervasive computing. Right now, he said, mobile technologies make up about 5% of IBM's total revenue. Dulaney doesn't doubt the importance of the market for IBM, but he said the company does face some hurdles in the market. IBM is known for its poor marketing and slow execution. While it has a great technological approach, it remains to be seen if it can promote what it's got, he said. FOR MORE INFORMATION Best Web links: wireless case studies Mobile wireless expert Lisa Phifer
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