Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Whatsapp
Pinterest
  • sales@mobileworxs.com
  • +44 (0) 1905 799555
  • CONTACT US
  • MY ACCOUNT
  • CART
Cart 0

My Cart

  • Home
  • Industries
      • Transport and Logistics
      • Field Service
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • Retail
      • Government
  • Products
      • Rugged Windows & Android Tablets
      • Handheld Computers
      • Software Solutions
      • Vehicle and Forklift Mounts
      • Thermal Printers & Media
      • Microsoft Surface Cases & Bundles
      • Apple iPad Rugged Cases
      • Volume Dimensioning 3D Camera System
      • Device Management
      • Sale
  • Support
      • Helpdesk
      • Recycling
      • Warranty
      • Service Plans
  • Blog
  • News

Blog

Back to Basics Part 3 A Brief History of Devices for Enterprise Mobility

  • Andrew
  • Enterprise Mobility, MobileWorxs
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest

A Brief History of Devices for Enterprise Mobility.

The advent of the smartphone in the last few years has been the thing that has led to rapid adoption of apps for enterprise mobility right, er wrong !

In fact this stuff has been around since the 90’s when niche companies started to build devices to enable mobile workers to collect data and transmit it back to MRP and decision management systems.

Early adopters could be found in vertical markets such as warehousing retail parcel delivery and automating route accounting paper trails. Adoption paralleled business drivers to shrink at desk headcount improve efficiency and make operations more mobile at the sharp end.  Devices boasted proprietary text based OS’s and small line based display screens with limited graphic capability. Comms consisted of returning a unit to a dock for batch upload and to re-charge NICAD batteries.

Janus 2020
Janus 2020 @1997

Units that were revolutionary at the time sported a 386 compatible chip a version of DOS  multi line LCD display and built in bar code scanner. Products like Intermec’s Janus 2020 and Telxon’s 960 also included Spread Spectrum radio – if you remember the frequency hopping Vs direct sequence wars of the mid 90’s take a bow now.

In parallel other vendors concentrated on Terminal Emulation based systems using narrow band radios which proved very popular in warehousing.

Since then key device characteristics in this area have been the longevity of specific model ranges long term serviceability ruggedness and accessories not seen early on in phones such as docking cradles, bar code scanning, cameras GPS and Bluetooth. All these attributes genuinely help the management of  large enterprise mobility deployments especially in organisations spread out over multiple sites and borders. Not surprisingly manufacturers have maintained that a rugged device has a demonstrably better TCO over a ‘consumer’ device during a 3-5 year working life.

Microsoft has enjoyed great vertical integration in this field. Supplying the technology that underpins both the back end systems the customer is using and also versions of Windows Mobile and CE which became the most widely used handheld device OS. Pre-eminence was further helped by a plentiful supply of Microsoft trained programmers and a lot of software shops with an interest in keeping customers on the platform.

Key point here is that there are many experienced industry veterans still involved in the industry. Seek them out in manufacturers and resellers you may be surprised at the valuable advice and insight they can contribute to your project.

Next time – arguably picking a device for a project has never been more difficult so what are your options?

  • Tags: enterprise mobility, html5, microsoft, mobile application development, mobile workers, mobileworxs, PDA, rugged tablet pc, Windows, windows mobile
PrevPreviousBack to Basics – Justifying Enterprise Mobility Depolyments Part 2
NextBack to Basics Part 4 Mobile Device Choices for Enterprise MobilityNext

Share this post

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin

Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • Designed for Surface | Certification
  • The Flex Series | Functional & Affordable
  • 5G in The Enterprise: Part 2
  • Five Surprising Enterprise Mobility Trends 2021
  • Magnetic Mounts for Tablets
  • T8650 8″ Rugged Tablet New & Improved
  • Surface Go 2 Vs Flex 10B Entry Level Tablet
  • Surface Pro 7 vs Surface Pro X
  • Introducing Android Industrial Tablet with SOTI Certification
  • The Future of Retail

Archives

Subscribe to our blog

Address

Charles Henry House
130 Worcester Road Droitwich Spa
Worcestershire
WR9 8AN
United Kingdom

Call : +44 (0)1905 799555
Email : sales@mobileworxs.com
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Whatsapp
Pinterest

© 2020 MobileWorxs

X Close