.FLYINGHEAD THE COMPUTING UNPLUGGED INTERVIEW
.TITLE An in-depth interview with Sprint Nextel and the future of GPS telephony
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.SUMMARY Nextel’s a very interesting firm, especially now that it’s merged with Sprint. Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz recently had the opportunity to interview Rob Consolazio, a senior executive at the firm, about business applications of mobile GPS telephony. You’ll notice that most of the company references in this interview refer to Nextel, rather than Sprint Nextel. That’s because the interview took place just before the firm’s name changed to Sprint Nextel.
.FEATURE
Nextel’s a very interesting firm, especially now that it’s merged with Sprint. I recently had the opportunity to interview Rob Consolazio, a senior executive at the firm, about business applications of mobile GPS telephony. You’ll notice that most of the company references in this interview refer to Nextel, rather than Sprint Nextel. That’s because the interview took place just before the firm’s name changed to Sprint Nextel.
.Q David
Please introduce yourself and help us understand your background. Tell us anything you think our readers might find interesting about you.
.A Rob
As the senior director of Business Solutions at Nextel, I’m responsible for product management and marketing for all of Nextel’s business and GPS application product lines. This includes four key areas.
First, Location Based Solutions, which consists of GPS-enabled applications for both Nextel handsets and Blackberry handhelds that allow businesses and individuals to better manage mobile resources. It also includes solutions for voice based navigation services on Nextel devices.
Second is Field Force Enablement Solutions. This encompasses field service automation, wireless credit card payment, barcode scanning and Supply Chain & Delivery applications.
The third area is Mobile CRM, including mobile middleware applications for sales force automation packages such as Salesforce.com, Siebel, SalesLogix, ACT! and many others.
And fourth is Industry Specific Solutions. These mobile applications provide unique disaster recovery and business continuity options for the Financial Services, Real Estate, Construction and Manufacturing verticals.
While I’ve been working within the Nextel environment since 2001, I still rely on my diverse career experiences to explore and implement new programs. This includes my tenure as the Director of Telecommunications & Utilities, for Scient Inc., (a leading professional services firm that focuses on Internet strategy development and technology integration for global telecommunications and utility companies), as well as several product management, marketing and consulting positions at companies like GTE Wireless (now Verizon), General Instrument (now Motorola) and Ernst & Young’s Telecommunications Group.
I’m also proud to be a former "Navy guy," having spent five years as an officer, and satisfying demanding positions, including Ordnance and Communications Officer on board the USS Antrim, a guided missile frigate based in Mayport, Florida.
.Q David
We all pretty much know that GPS can help us understand our location. But how does it work?
.A Rob
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide radio-navigation system formed from a constellation of 24 satellites and their ground stations.
The satellites are used to send radio signals to receivers on the ground. They use a method called "triangulation" to determine the location. Triangulation measures the distance using the travel time of the radio signals its sends to the ground.
GPS requires an unobstructed view of the sky, so it often does not perform well inside of buildings or in areas where there are a lot of tall structures or natural barriers, such as forests.
.Q David
How did GPS get started? What’s the history of the technology?
.A Rob
GPS was designed and built, and is operated and maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense. It used to be known as the Navstar Global Positioning System, which was conceptually devised by the Pentagon in 1973 in an effort to create an error-proof satellite system. In 1978, the first operational GPS satellite was launched. By the mid-1990s, the system was fully operational with 24 satellites.
More information about the general history of GPS can be found in a number of sources online.
.Q David
GPS is a convenience, certainly. But in this age of Homeland Security, isn’t GPS also a danger?
.A Rob
This question may be better answered by Homeland Security or Defense Department officials.
.Q David
Hmmm…guess we’ll come back to this question with other experts in a future issue. Let’s move on. Since we’re interviewing you about GPS, you obviously have something to do with GPS. But isn’t Nextel a phone provider? Where does the GPS come in?
.A Rob
In most of today’s cell phones, GPS location technology is standard equipment due largely in part to the fact that the FCC has mandated cell phone providers be able to determine a user’s location if they are using their cell phone in an emergency situation.
Nextel was the first carrier to introduce a Java-enabled GPS phone in late 2002. At the same time, Nextel launched an open programming interface that would allow the iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) software development community to build applications that leveraged location-based information on the handset, and the first applications were introduced in early 2003.
All of Nextel’s current wireless phone models, including the BlackBerry 7520, come equipped with GPS receivers built into the handsets. In fact, Nextel is the first and only wireless provider to offer a BlackBerry with GPS functionality. This allows Nextel to combine its voice and data communications services (cellular, Direct Connect instant walkie-talkie and short message service to name a few) with GPS location-based services on a single device.
This eliminates the need to carry a separate cell phone, pager and GPS receiver. It also enhances the power of the mobile phone by leveraging its physical location to not only bring users personalized content and information but more valuable services such as helping them identify the top five restaurants in their vicinity, along with providing their menus and pricing.
.Q David
Besides getting directions to the nearest Starbucks, what are some unexpected consumer applications of GPS?
.A Rob
The possibilities are endless! Some of the more prominent consumer GPS services offered on Nextel’s wireless handsets include the ability to receive directions to a specific location, as you mentioned. This is especially useful when you’re on the road, either for business or pleasure. Users can pinpoint exactly where they are at any given moment and receive location information for nearby restaurants, ATMs, movie theaters and other places of interest.
One partner is MapQuest that provides the FindMe service, which sends text directions — similar to those on MapQuest online — to users’ Nextel phones and lets them give their permission to share their location with others through text messages or on a private Web site. This is a great application for keeping in touch with family members, when traveling in unfamiliar territory, or making spontaneous plans.
Additionally, the ability to receive audible and visual turn-by-turn directions is possible with GPS-enable phones. The functionality is just like that of in-car navigation systems but considerably less expensive and more portable, so you can reap the benefits while traveling on business, enjoying a vacation, biking, running — you name it.
Some applications, like TeleNav, which we offer on all of our phone handsets and our BlackBerry 7520, even gives drivers street names, which is a significant improvement over in-car systems. And because it works with Nextel Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) phones, TeleNav is able to update directions on the fly if the driver misses a turn. It also includes a feature that allows users to find the cheapest gas in proximity to location, as well as other businesses and points of interest. Information is based on the most robust database available, and is updated daily.
GPS also is an important technology that is often used by outdoor adventurers. We partner with a company called Trimble Outdoors and their software turns Nextel phones into GPS receivers designed specifically for outdoor activities — like hiking, backpacking or hunting. The key here is that it works in and out of Nextel coverage areas, so GPS services will continue to work in remote areas where hikers and outdoorsmen venture.
And because Nextel phones combine cell phone, walkie-talkie and GPS receiver functionality all in one device, users can reduce the number of devices that they have to carry. They can also plan trips in advance on the computer and then download maps, routes and waypoints onto Nextel phones for reference when out on the trail. Trimble Outdoors also works with Nextel camera phones, allowing users to take GPS-tagged pictures and share them online with family and friends.
.Q David
Many of our readers work for large enterprises. What are some of the more interesting enterprise-level applications of GPS?
.A Rob
GPS improves business efficiency by providing information about the location of company assets and allowing managers to reallocate them immediately as needed. Any industry that has a mobile workforce can benefit from GPS-related productivity gains, but construction, transportation, education, government, real estate, manufacturing and field service come to mind immediately.
We offer several enterprise applications on our phones.
First, @Road offers GeoManager and Pathway services to effectively manage mobile operations and employees.
ActSoft’s Comet Tracker uses GPS to locate and track workers, keep electronic timesheets and dispatch tasks. Locations are displayed on a map and are continuously updated. For example, the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 in Evanston, Illinios needed instant access to the locations of 20 school buses serving 15 schools and 6,500 students. With a network of 74 Nextel wireless phones, along with 20 Java enabled handsets equipped with Nextel’s GPS technology running Comet Tracker from ActSoft, the school system has real-time data on the arrival and route of the district’s school buses — information that can be critical when quickly locating a missing child or expediting vehicle transfers and repairs.
An offering by IT2ME LLC allows customers to track and monitor valuable assets and employees. It is currently available on Nextel’s BlackBerry 7520, as well as Nextel GPS phones.
In June of this year, Nextel, ALK Technologies and Motorola announced in the launch of ALK’s PC*MILER|Mobile, a break-through service available, with a subscription, on select Nextel Java- and GPS-enabled handsets that provide spoken turn-by-turn, street-level, truck-specific routing information, such as avoiding roads with height restrictions. The service also provides fleets and customers a real-time view of truck and shipment locations — delivering a cost-effective tool to improve operational efficiency. The GPS solution is delivered via select Nextel handsets powered by Motorola’s VIAMOTO technology.
Vettro’s FieldMaster application helps manage a mobile workforce, providing real-time notification and reporting of mobile worker location, estimated time of arrival, assignment status and estimated time of completion. For example, SuperShuttle, a shared ride and taxi service that serves major U.S. airports, needed a data solution that allowed for instant communications and dynamic tracking of 1,300 fleet vehicles in 18 markets across the country. The company uses Nextel’s Java-enabled phones with GPS capabilities and Vettro’s mobile enterprise application to save more than $3,000 per vehicle, increase service and efficiency of its fleet operations and improve driver performance and satisfaction.
And finally, Xora Inc.’s GPS TimeTrack application combines employee hours, job and work order management with GPS location tracking and barcode scanning capabilities. A premium edition of TimeTrack, Xora Mobile Service, offers advance location-based dispatching, scheduling and two-way work order alerts for service organizations.
We are now working to extend GPS services to an even broader base of users. In June 2005, Nextel introduced its Wireless GPS Platform, which is an application development environment allows large enterprises and government entities to develop customized applications if off-the-shelf GPS applications do not fully meet their needs, such as those that can be easily integrated into existing business solutions and software to further enhance asset tracking and operations management.
.Q David
Since we’re talking about applications of GPS, let’s look at two other groups that might benefit: small business and the so-called "public sector"? Are there any unique ways GPS can benefit these two groups?
.A Rob
Absolutely. In order for small businesses to thrive, they need to keep costs down and efficiencies up. GPS can help them do that, through the ability to locate employees in real time. For example, service and repair organizations can quickly locate the nearest technicians to re-route them to high priority customers to satisfy service guarantees. And, because the devices collect historical data, they can also be used to improve processes regularly for competitive advantage.
In addition to improving customer services, navigation functions also can help businesses reduce mileage to save money on fuel consumption and vehicle wear and tear.
The usage scenarios that are relevant to the enterprise are also important in the public sector. In particular, GPS is becoming increasingly prevalent in education environments to track everything from students and buses to work orders and meal cards.
One of our customers, Spring Independent School District in Houston, Texas, is responsible for transporting 20,000 children a day on its buses with limited ways to quickly identify when or where a child got on or off a bus. Using GPS-enabled Nextel phones and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology provided through a partnership with AirClic, school officials and law enforcement can access relevant location information within minutes, adding an extra layer of safety for the children and giving parents more peace of mind.
.Q David
Please tell us more about how cellular phones and GPS are being combined today.
.A Rob
All of Nextel’s phones come equipped with Assisted Global Positioning (A-GPS) receivers that make it possible to determine the location of the phone in only a matter of seconds. A-GPS technology, which is actually faster to the "first fix" than standard GPS, allows Nextel to store cell tower locations in a database so that the phone already knows the location of the nearest cell tower. It then selects the "best" or "most efficient" satellites to search for based on the user’s location.
For instance, if a Nextel phone user was in New York City, the phone would not try to read satellites on the West Coast to get a first fix on the user’s location. But with standard GPS, all satellites must be searched to get the first fix, which makes that slower to initially identify location.
.Q David
Looking 2, 5, and 10 years into the future, what’s the future look like for both cellular phones and GPS?
.A Rob
We expect a number of advances for GPS in wireless phones. We anticipate that, over time, GPS receivers will get more sensitive, so that internal structure and environmental obstructions will become less of an issue. This will enable users to get signals faster and in more places. Other advances will include better mapping displays on the handset and improved battery life.
We are already seeing traditional applications — whether they are business continuity or sales force automation — adding GPS capabilities to enhance their usefulness. For example, companies that provide mobile customer relationship management software are incorporating GPS so that not only can a salesperson get their leads from their wireless handset or BlackBerry 7520, but they can receive driving directions from the salesperson’s current location to the prospective customer’s site. In business continuity example, if there was a disaster, GPS can assist in finding all critical employees or C-level executives within a certain geographical area in order to respond to emergencies.
I also envision a day where in-car GPS navigation systems and wireless GPS solutions are complementary. Today with in-car systems, users have to worry about updating their maps and paying for that service. In the future, with Bluetooth capabilities, the primary GPS system may be in-car, but when the wireless handset is in the car, it could automatically update the in-car systems’ maps. Then, when users are traveling and using rental cars, the wireless phone-based GPS solution would serve users’ navigation needs. This scenario will present a blending of location solutions with various GPS-capable devices.
GPS applications and presence information — such as whether the wireless device is on or off, or the user is in the home or work mode — are among several ingredients that will combine to make possible a mobile lifestyle.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Sprint Nextel, visit http://www.sprint.com.
For more information on the Blackberry, visit http://www.rim.com.
For more information on Starbucks, visit http://www.starbucks.com. While you’re there, ask them why there are no Starbucks stores along Route 95 in Georgia!
For more information on Mapquest Find Me, visit http://findme.mapquest.com.
For more information on @Road, visit http://www.atroad.com.
For more information on ActSoft, visit http://www.actsoft.com.
For more information on IT2ME LLC, visit http://www.it2me.com.
For more information on ALK Technologies, visit http://www.alk.com.
For more information on Vettro, visit http://www.vettro.com.
For more information on Xora, visit http://www.xora.com.
For more information on AirClic, visit http://www.airclic.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
