The world is converging on the mobile space

This is where the last limits to access and productivity are disappearing. The latest developments in mobility are overcoming the last barriers of compatibility and connectivity – but there’s a touch of old school about one of them as well.

Mobile applications get down to business

The world of mobile applications is not just about cute games and handy navigation devices. Your smartphone can provide you with a wealth of essential business resources, from CRM functions to business continuity and ERP. They can all be delivered securely between the server and the device using the existing, AES–encrypted MDS layer.

LAN2LAN has developed secure bespoke mobile applications for our clients, which can reside on smartphones. They allow users to work with the business resources they need even when there is no connection available. The native applications and network–based systems simply update each other the next time a connection is made.

For example, sales people on the road can update their CRM systems between appointments without having to wait for a connection. When they move back into range, the entries are automatically transmitted back to the corporate system. At the same time, any relevant changes to the central databases are pushed out to the right individuals, so that their smartphone records are always up–to–date.

Call us on 0870 787 4001 to talk about a bespoke application for your organisation.

Digital pen for BlackBerry®: the future is old school

The wonders of new technology can sometimes blind us to the fact that some far more traditional systems still have their uses. The latest digital pens are giving an increasing number of LAN2LAN customers the best of the old school and the next generation, by bringing mobile technology together with the simple paper and pen.

Actually, the paper and pen are not quite so simple, because the pen in question incorporates a Bluetooth connection to your BlackBerry and the paper carries the ingenious Anoto pattern. This allows every page to be read as a unique item by the pen.

You can use the pen and paper in exactly the same way as an ordinary notepad. Your writing does not need to be an immaculate copperplate, and you can even make sketches and diagrams. When you have finished, you can send the document via the BlackBerry transport layer to a hosted or enterprise server, where it can be stored as a PDF or Word file. If necessary, your content can be used automatically to activate workflow processes through XML or other languages.

The system is particularly useful when you have procedures that are reliant on pre-printed forms. Surveyors, loss assessors, financial advisors, engineers on site – there are countless scenarios where it is easiest to capture handwritten data and then convert it for the digital world. You can have specialist forms created with the Anoto pattern, making life easier for people on the move, while accelerating the process of getting the data into your corporate systems.

Find out more – click here to see a case study.

Convergence: BlackBerry® MVS and Agito Networks RoamAnywhere™

Your mobile workers should be able to gain all the benefits of your converged voice and data LAN no matter how they connect, or which smartphone they use. New technologies from BlackBerry and Agito Networks, available now from LAN2LAN, have taken us a giant leap closer to the ultimate converged mobile world.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS) is designed to unify fixed and mobile voice communications to give you one business phone number, one caller ID, one voice mailbox, and all the office phone features you need on the move. It is delivered through BlackBerry smartphones and supports mixed TDM and IP PBX environments, as well as homogenous IP PBX environments.

The BlackBerry MVS Server allows you to gain all the benefits of fixed–mobile convergence without having to abandon your existing PBX system. All the telephony features of a standard PBX can now be extended to your smartphones, including call transfers, switching between calls and call filtering.

Agito

Agito RoamAnywhere keeps mobile workers connected to your enterprise voice and unified communications applications, wherever they are. RoamAnywhere intelligently connects users to the best available wireless network (enterprise WiFi, cellular, home, hotspot), with fast and automatic handover as they move between networks. Crucially, this means users get superior in–building coverage.

The RoamAnywhere Mobility Router decouples mobile applications from mobile networks, allowing your applications to operate across a variety of different networks, securely and seamlessly, while you retain complete control. Agito supports more than 40 different handsets, including BlackBerry®, Nokia/Symbian devices and Windows Mobile.