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Appendix B - Hardware and Connectivity Technology Streams in Detail

Page history last edited by Alan Belniak 15 years, 4 months ago

[Appendix for Section 6.2]

<<Return to Section 6.2>>

<<Continue to Section 6.3>>

 

[3] The Hardware is the Physical Backbone of 2.0/2.0 Consulting.

 

Links to Technology Partners Mentioned in Section 6.2

HP Retail Store Assistant: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070529b.html

 

 

2.0/2.0 Consulting will need a collection of components and devices to support the data infrastructure.  Below is a list of the major components.  Surely there are others that would exist within the organization, and would permeate the cracks and the gaps from these components, but what are listed below are the critical devices that need to be understood, at a minimum, for success.

 

File and Application Servers – 2.0/2.0 Consulting will be collecting massive amounts of data for each of the campaigns it runs.  The data will be in the form of numbers, text, images, videos – the list goes on.  It is critical that the data live in a secure, reliable location.  Technology innovation considerations relating to servers include reliability rate (minimum of “five nines”, preferably better), heat output, data redundancy, interoperability among multiple system components, connectivity, and operating system specifications.  In addition, the physical location must be considered as well.  At the start, it may not be practical for 2.0/2.0 Consulting to host the data on-site.  Instead, the data may be farmed out to a third-party solution.   Physical and remote access to the servers when necessary could become critical.  Security of those servers, both physical (from theft and attack) as well as digital (encryption, subject to interception and hacking) is also important.

 

A sub-component of the servers to manage, from a technology-innovation standpoint, is the internal drives.  Multiple drives would operate together to form an array to offer the data redundancy mentioned above.  Disk drives (in the form of the traditional magnetic platter) are the preferred solution so as to maximize performance and capacity and minimize the cost.  Issues to bear in mind include spin rate, nearby magnetic fields, data transfer protocols, and data reliability.  The constant spinning also requires a reliable and steady power supply.  Data density is not as much of an issue, thanks to the phenomenon described by Kryder’s Law that states (approximately) data density doubles every year.  This loosely addresses a physical space issue, because as the need for more strage increases, the need for more physical space does not necessarily increase at the same rate. 

 

Another subcomponent of the servers to manage includes the CPUs.  A fair amount of the data-crunching, manipulation, and processing will occur on the server level (thus creating nearly ‘dumb’ terminals within the 2.0/2.0 Consulting organizaton).  Therefore, the speed and load-balancing abilities of the internal central processing units of the servers is critical to transforming the raw data into useful information.  Key considerations include heat management, reliability, expected lifecycle, pure processing speed, compatible operating system and/or platforms, interoperability with other hardware, and total cost of ownership.

 

Memory is yet another sub-component of the servers that necessitates monitoring.  The server RAM is one of the components that determine how much data processing can occur at any one given time.  It might not be necessary to have the fastest RAM or the most current RAM on the market.  However, the RAM needs to be stable (non-volatile) and compatible with the other components in the system (including the CPUs and the hard drives).  It is important to note that the relative speed of the RAM should be considered in relation to the relative speed of the CPU to prevent (or at a minimum, understand) any potential processing latency.

 

2.0/2.0 Consulting will initially implement its solutions in manufacturing or product-driven organizations, allowing the end-users to provide feedback into the organization via an attractive and interactive user interface (see Section 6.1 for more details).  However, one likely extension that we see is seeking similar feedback in retail stores via a kiosk.  This kiosk could be placed near the registers or point-of-sale, or even immediately adjacent to the product offering.  Being able to capture useful, relevant data in a minimally unobtrusive and rapid fashion is key.  The kiosk we envision (at the platinum level) would be similar in size to a self-service check-in kiosk at an airport.  The main components include a touch screen, audio speakers, potentially a keyboard (but likely not), a stable operating system, an entire mini-computer (ram, CPU, graphics card, etc.), and a way to transmit that data (storage for later collection, or Wi-Fi for wireless transmission).  This technology component, in and of itself, has many technology streams that would need to be managed. 

 

The kiosk is not part of 2.0/2.0 Consulting’s initial offering, so only a cursory review of the critical technology streams will be mentioned.  Most notably, advancements in the touch screen technology will need to be monitored, since this affects both [a] the collection of input; and [b] the attractiveness to the end-user.  Any changes in Wi-Fi technology (or other connectivity protocol, like Bluetooth) would need to be monitored as well.  If the kiosk could not be located near a continuous power source, like an AC supply, some sort of stored current (battery) or other form of power generation would need to occur.  In summary, the kiosk would be a separate, standalone technology stream that has several components, but most of which (aside from the operating system and touch screen itself) are relatively stable.

 

As a reward for providing feedback, 2.0/2.0 Consulting will offer an incentive.  One such delivery mechanism could be in the form of a coupon printer (or a voucher printer, if this were deployed inside, say, a warehouse or manufacturing floor; vouchers could be redeemed for something of value, determined by an HR staff -- for example, see Retail Store Assistant from HP).  The technology streams here are relatively stable as well, but include connectivity to the kiosk, ink and ink cartridges, or a laser, power source, and security (ability to print unique coupons or vouchers that cannot be replicated in, say, a photocopier).  Another incentive could be to bypass the paper altogether and send a digital coupon or voucher directly to the user’s mobile phone.  The phone becomes the collection device, and once the user has initially accepted that data, that, too, can be tracked and recorded, and additional contact with the user can be made through the user’s mobile phone.  The coupon could be in the form of a bar code that could actually be scanned by an infrared price scanner at the point-of-purchase.  The technology streams involved include: software to create the coupons or vouchers; printing and cutting/perforating devices (unless the paper is pre-sized); deployment of text and text and bar code images to mobile phones via the six largest (out of 180) wireless carriers in the US, in addition to other countries; and connectivity to the kiosk or a central database for record keeping. 

 

<<Return to Section 6.2>>

 

[4] Connectivity: What Good is Data if You Can't get it from Point A to Point Z?

 

Depending on the specific solution implemented, some form of connectivity is necessary to ensure high fidelity data transmission.  Inside of an organization (in North America, Japan, and Korea), connections would likely be over T1 or T3 data lines.  In other places, an E1 line would likely be used for high-speed wired data transmission.  Other options still are fiber optics and co-axial.  Although higher-speed transmission lines exist now, T1 and T3 data transmission lines have been widely available in most industrial nations for a fair amount of time, and the technology that surrounds it is, relatively speaking, stable.  Therefore, although the speed of the data transmission will change, it is unlikely that the T1 and T3 technology itself (and other variants of it, outside of North America, Japan, and Korea) will undergo a transformation so large that it becomes a hurdle in implementing 2.0/2.0 Consulting solutions.

 

Wi-Fi  is another connectivity format that could be used in these proposed solutions, although it is likely that Wi-Fi would likely appear in a retail implementation or a manufacturing plant/warehouse implementation.  Wi-Fi permits secure, rapid data transmission without wires.  This advantage makes it suitable for kiosks or other stand-alone data collection ‘stations’ to transmit data back to a central database or a stronger relay.  Significant advancements have been made in Wi-Fi over the past decade, in terms of speed, security, and proliferation.   The cost of Wi-Fi chipsets has decreased over the last several years, making the technology more affordable and ubiquitous.  Most new modern personal computers and operating systems (as well as game consoles, printers, and other peripherals) support Wi-Fi.  Wi-Fi has become widespread in many corporate offices.  Moreover, any standard Wi-Fi device will work anywhere in the world (presuming it is within range of something that can receive the signal), since Wi-Fi is based on a global set of standards.  Initial concerns arose from the multiple speeds and technologies that relate to Wi-Fi.  However, a Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a community to address these concerns.  The community created a standard (Wi-Fi Certified) to re-assure consumers that products will interoperate with other products displaying the same branding.  Therefore, although the speed of the data transmission will change, it is unlikely that the Wi-Fi technology itself will undergo a transformation so large that it becomes a hurdle in implementing 2.0/2.0 Consulting solutions.

 

Bluetooth is another form of wireless connectivity, similar to Wi-Fi, but used over much shorter distances (up to about 10m).  Similar to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth permits wireless data exchange at modest data rates over short distances, thus dispensing the need for wires.  The application of Bluetooth connectivity in 2.0/2.0 Consulting could be between a kiosk and a mobile phone (for example, in a retail store), a kiosk and a roaming data collector (for example, in a warehouse of a shop floor), etc.  One of the reasons Bluetooth is a stable technology is that the Bluetooth specifications have been developed and licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which is a series of companies in the areas of telecommunications, computing, and consumer electronics.  It has been ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002.  As with Wi-Fi, many personal computers and operating systems support Bluetooth technology (case in point: after-market USB Bluetooth dongles are widely available).  Bluetooth applications and the technology itself is advancing, indicating that it has made a presence and will likely not fade, at least within the reasonable lifecycle of 2.0/2.0 Consulting. 

 

As mentioned earlier in the Hardware section, knowledge around the communication protocols of the major mobile phone service providers is also necessary (this discussion overlaps into the connectivity section).  An added benefit of serving up incentives via mobile phone push is that it inherently ‘pulls’ the mobile phone number into the retail store’s informational database for future use.  Additional information can then be ‘pushed’ back out, such as suggestions or links to follow on Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking sites, register for e-mail updates, and the like.  Even further, a store or a major brand (e.g., Proctor & Gamble) could develop a mobile phone widget that permitted real-time feedback delivery of products as the users are in the store.  With a high enough adoption rate, this could displace the need of the kiosk altogether.  The technology streams for this idea are similar to the pushing of the digital coupon above, plus knowledge of the mobile phone application development platforms, like Java (and all of its variants), BREW, and the like.  This is likely the most dynamic technology stream, since changes happen rapidly in this space, as compared to the others mentioned.  The major technology stream that links the hardware to the connectivity is a deep understanding of the software that links the two technologies together.  A key to this success is having mobile phone application developers (specialists) on staff at 2.0/2.0 Consulting.

  

<<Return to Section 6.2>>

<<Continueto Section 6.3>>

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