Inside Information

A tech-savvy hospital and trucking company show that wireless intranet access improves efficiency.

Wireless data connectivity is redefining the way people take care of business today. Doctors and nurses at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital can access patient records and track prescriptions via customized wireless devices. And truckers can use their AT&T PocketNet phones to find the next load from Landstar, a transportation cooperative.

These two disparate scenarios are connected by a common platform: wireless intranet access. And wireless carriers are beginning to help businesses tap this well of information.

High cost and perceived security risks still keep many businesses from opening their intranets to wireless access. But some early adopters are proving that it can be done.

High-Tech Healing

Partners HealthCare, an integrated health-care delivery system founded by Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals in Boston is developing a number of solutions to provide wireless access to core intranet systems, said Steve Flammini, director of application development for the organization.

Although most of these projects are still in development, some are showing promise in pilot programs at Massachusetts General. One of these is called Medication Administration Record (MAR).

MAR gives nurses the ability to document medications as they're administered to patients. Currently it runs on a laptop computer, but a future PDA version would allow nurses simply to swipe a medicine bottle's label. The application can run on a wireless or conventional LAN platform. But mobility makes nurses more efficient.

"It's targeted at reducing clinical errors in dosing or administration of medications," Flammini said.

A similar application, called Patient Assessment, also is being tested on wirelessly enabled laptops. The application allows nurses to update a patient's status.

In a couple of months, doctors at Massachusetts General will be able to access patient records on the hospital's intranet using their Palm VIIs.

"This app is really more of a convenience for physicians than it is part of their core workflow," Flammini said. "With the wide-area network such as Palm.Net, which is just the Bell South Wireless Network, it's really just a convenience for doctors to be able to go and look up information on their patients. But the coverage and performance of a wide-area network like that is not really up to par with the performance and stability of an internal, LAN-based network."

The first two applications - MAR and Patient Assessment - run on an internal, wireless LAN 802.11 network. But the Palm VII application, which is available in most major cities, doesn't get very good reception inside the hospital. But it's not meant for use inside the hospital, where doctors and staff are more likely to access patient records from their office computers.

Flammini said most of these wireless applications are meant to complement, rather than replace, current methods.

"But there are a couple of niches where having the wireless platform really makes the application work," he said. "For instance, with the MAR that would bar code medications wirelessly, that's a significant enhancement in the workflow."

Partners HealthCare uses Inter-Systems' Cache post-relational database-management system as the underlying database technology for many of its clinical applications. Using Cache, a centralized server was developed to contain schemas that describe the data on the 12 Cache database servers that support the hospitals' intranet.

Wireless applications can be challenging to deploy in a hospital environment. Flammini has to make sure new wireless applications don't interfere with existing biomedical equipment and telemetry applications that already occupy certain frequencies in the hospital.

Then there's security. Healthcare providers have to be sensitive to patient confidentiality issues when implementing and using computer applications.

"We're using secure socket layer to accomplish the encryption of data over the air," Flammini explained. "We're also using the same user-authentication techniques as people have to use on an ordinary workstation. So, besides the fact that the bits are moving over the air, the same strength of encryption and user authentication is being applied here."

Another challenge is to avoid over-hyping the potential of new wireless applications. Flammini must make sure that new technology is seen as a tool to enhance workflow, rather than a panacea.

Keep On Truckin'

Wireless data has proved to be a competitive advantage for transportation company Landstar.

The company's 8,000 business capacity owners (BCOs) use Landstar's intranet Web site to choose freight and make other business decisions. Through a deal with AT&T Wireless and system integrator PhoneOnline.com, Landstar was able to provide its BCOs with mobile access to information and applications on its intranet.

Michael S. Coulson, AT&T Wireless director of data strategy and development, explained that the truckers use PocketNet phones and service plans to access a customized Landstar home deck using the data function on their handsets.

"The business issue they're trying to solve is to get better relationships and better communication with all these independent sales agents," Coulson said. "There are three main things they wanted to be able to get out to these people: status reporting, account status and available loads. Landstar would rather make that information directly available to them, instead of fielding lots of calls."

By providing this information in a mobile, automated fashion, Landstar helps recruit and retain truckers.

"It's great when you can't use your laptop," said Linda Kennedy, a Landstar BCO who, along with her husband, has been a trucker for more than 20 years. "I can find freight and get specific directions while we're unloading, so it saves us money in terms of time and fuel."

The PocketNet service also gives Landstar BCOs mobile access to corporate databases, schedules, weather, street maps, e-mail and contact information.

Using Landstar's intranet application, PhoneOnline.com created a customized program to work with WAP servers and mobile-data integration technologies. AT&T's PocketNet service is available to BCOs on the Mitsubishi MobileAccess or the Ericsson R280LX handsets. The service operates over AT&T's CDPD network at up to 19.2kb/s. The service costs each operator $14.99 per month for unlimited access.

To make economic sense for a business, wireless data systems must provide access to critical functions.

"What they're really looking for is company information," Coulson said. "One of the things we've found is that in order for companies to make the investment in service, devices, modems, etc ... is that there has to be a good ROI (return on investment) around that. It's hard to do an ROI just around wireless access to e-mail. People want it, and there's a convenience factor. But it's wireless access to corporate information that drives the project."

Voice: An Alternative Interface

Most applications that enable wireless access to corporate intranet information require the users to type commands on their handset keypads. But Talk2 Technology provides an alternative with its voice-enabled wireless data application.

Talk2 enables users to access, listen to and forward e-mail via any phone - landline or wireless - as well as access other critical business information via an enterprise information portal (EIP) or customer-revenue-management system running on a company intranet. Talk2's technology is aimed at carriers and Fortune 500 companies.

Although many voice portals provide access to information, most are limited by what that portal provides. Talk2's application-development platform allows organizations to voice-enable selected business information. Using the Choosit application, individual users can customize their voice experience from any standard Web page, corporate intra- net or voice-enabled Web site. Whole organizations can use the Commander application for more wide-scale customization.

Kary Burns, vice president of market development, explained that Talk2 Technology could provide voice access to intranet information from an EIP that might include options such as human resources and customer support. Under customer support, there might be options such as incidents, scheduling and support procedures. The user, by saying the word "incidents," could then create a customer-support incident report using his voice over a wireless handset or landline connection.

Talk2 uses spontaneous virtual private networking (sVPN) to secure transmissions of data from the source to the end user. System administrators can install sVPN without any reconfiguration of the existing corporate firewall. Talk2's sVPN is standards-based and meets all requirements of IPsec for 192-bit encryption.

"Carriers are more security conscious than anybody," Burns said. "Once we got through the security police at this carrier (a potential customer) they started using it to access Lotus Notes content. The IT sales cycle is significant, because you have to prove to them that it truly is secure, that it's not disruptive or open up other security holes. And our technology has proved itself."

Burns said one major wireless carrier has customers already using the technology. However, he couldn't reveal the carrier's identity. He also said several Fortune 500 enterprise customers are now testing the application.

Burns said there is a huge market for Talk2's voice-enabled solution.

"The penetration of wireless PDAs is under 5% nationwide," he said. "So that means there is a huge number of people that don't have access to the stuff behind their corporate firewall unless they're booted up, plugged into a PC or dialed into their network. We see this as just one more way people can access content."