Businesses gain robust voice-enabled WLAN devices
The Wi-Fi Alliance has yet to set a firm date for “Voice-Enterprise” interoperability testing and certification. But enterprises seem to be getting a fair number of business-grade Wi-Fi handset choices anyway.
For example, Polycom intends to announce on Tuesday its SpectraLink 8400 Series, a family of three VoIP-over-Wi-Fi handsets. The devices are browser-based, 802.11n-capable and support push-to-talk (PTT). Two of the three sport point-and-shoot bar code scanners. The devices use an XML API, so that “applications written for other smartphones can easily be ported” to them, says Ben Guderian, Polycom VP of wireless solutions.
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They also support an open Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) platform, so existing unified communications features such as messaging will work on the phones, he adds.
The phones, to ship in 2011, support 802.11n in single input, single output (SISO) mode. That means that the devices won’t enjoy the advanced data rates of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) 802.11n devices. But because they speak the 802.11n protocol, “they won’t have adverse effects on the network,” Guderian says.
In other words, the handsets won’t force the network to gait itself to the lower speeds of an earlier version of 802.11.
Polycom’s handsets will range in price from approximately $750 (no barcode scanner) to $1,000 or $1,200, depending on whether the scanner is 1D or 2D. Beta testing is scheduled to begin in December.
Other handsets of this class — targeted specifically for use within enterprises and verticals such as healthcare and retail — arrived earlier this year from Motorola. The company announced new versions of its Windows Mobile-based Enterprise Digital Assistant: the MC75A in March, the ES400 in June and the MC75AO-HC earlier this month.
The devices support 802.11a/b/g (no “n” yet); the MC75A and ES400 support user-configurable wireless WAN connectivity. The ES400, which is targeted more at the general business professional, will support PTT in 2011, according to the company.
And last week, Motorola announced the ruggedized MC75AO-HC, about $2,000, targeted at healthcare companies. It can tolerate regular exposure to the harsh cleaning agents used to prevent the accidental spread of germs and diseases. It is a Wi-Fi-only device (no WWAN).
Motorola’s devices offer a mix of QWERTY and alphanumeric keyboards; Polycom’s sport a traditional telephone dial pad.
