The challenge of understanding mobile networks

This article originally appeared in print with the headline, "Know your blind spot."

We all know about the rapid ascent of mobile technology and its operational impact. The choices are simple: get on the mobile bandwagon or be left behind. The proliferation of mobile devices, the increase in wireless technologies and the need for public safety to be on the go — all point to a shift in how organizations look at mobile computing.

In public safety, there is a delicate balance between enhancing the quality of services provided to citizens and partner agencies, and simultaneously improving first-responder safety. In addition, there is always the challenge of keeping projects within the parameters of shrinking budgets.

Expanding mobile initiatives has been an effective way to achieve the balance, because enhanced installations can give officers and field employees greater access to information, increase communication in the field, and improve overall service to the community.

However, as the number and scope of these mobile initiatives have grown over time and more processes within a state/local government have become reliant on the connectivity provided by commercial wireless networks, it is increasingly clear that these same networks represent a gaping blind spot within a public-safety agency’s mobile deployment.

Everyone knows that you can’t manage what you can’t see. For networking professionals, this traditionally has meant tapping into a large portfolio of products and services that provide visibility into how their internal wired networks and applications are performing.

But cellular (or mobile broadband) networks are an exception. While first responders rely on public cellular connections every day to serve their communities, how these networks are performing is a huge blind spot for IT departments and support staff. The result is manual troubleshooting of dropped or poor connections, frustrated employees and operational procedures that don’t work as intended—all of which potentially puts an agency’s large investment in mobility at risk.

While some state/local agencies might have a general understanding of where their weaknesses lie, a new study by Rysavy Research and NetMotion Wireless of more than 400 networking professionals from public safety and other field-centric industries pinpoints exactly where mobile deployments typically come up short.

The survey defined a cellular data deployment as one where mobile employees are accessing mission-critical applications in the field. Questions were limited to the usage of cellular data only (not voice) by employees on company-owned devices such as laptops, tablets or handhelds. Here’s what the respondents had to say.