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Wireless Trends - The Future for Every Industry
by Nelson Shadle and Eric Smith
Wireless networks will be an important contribution to businesses in the future, but how will they apply to your industry? While security and standard network speeds are still challenging issues, as wireless enterprises become more common, improvements will emerge.
Healthcare
For years, healthcare facilities have relied on extensive paper files for each patient. With the recent advances in technology and wireless abilities, paperwork may become a thing of the past. Wireless will give healthcare facilities the ability to transfer and manage records effortlessly. For example, a doctor using a Tablet PC with a wireless connection could record patient information that will, in turn, automatically update everything in the patient's electronic file. In addition, nurses and doctors will be able to pull additional files and information through their Tablet PCs to handle a new patient, emergencies, or a routine task, or even to send prescriptions directly from the doctor to the pharmacy.
Higher Education
In the past 10 years, the classroom environment has evolved to become technologically savvy with designs that include laptop plug-ins at each desk. With wireless, the possibilities over the next 10 years are endless. For example, with wireless technology, a professor can assign personal preferences, such as a room's temperature or light levels. Through biometrics, the network will be able to read presence of students in the room and automatically adjust the settings. In fact, all audio-visual elements in the classroom can be controlled via the wireless network. Professors can even upload their white board notes to a network file to share with the class. As educational institutions grow, wireless networks will allow reduction in cabling and decrease overall building infrastructure costs.
Corporate
Large companies with corporate campuses have the most to gain from implementing a wireless network. For example, if a company acquires another building or builds a new one nearby, a wireless connection between the two buildings is already a popular choice. The immediate cost savings of not having to install physical cable lines between the buildings is easily recognizable.
Government
Since many government agencies have multiple locations and branches in regions throughout the country, wireless networks will allow them to access files and documents from anywhere. In addition to operating branch offices, the government also can run cities and towns with wireless networks, as in the case of a small, Canadian town that used a wireless connection to allow residents to communicate by phone, watch TV and access community information online - since its remote location made cabling and transmitters out of the question.
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