Now & Future TECHNOLOGIES

Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Ashley Roe & Stephanie Silk

           

For 2008, Coffin also says that data rates are going to increase as more wireless networks use 802.11. This may bring more challenges, though, as Coffin says, “To support video data and bandwidth-hungry devices, we have to see higher bandwidth and more fault-tolerant networks.”

Another challenge Coffin predicts is an increasing lack of IP addresses, although he says the continued deployment of IPv6 devices will help fix that. (IPv6 is the successor of IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol.)

The unified platform that Shanes suggests also applies to the intercom community. Coffin says that, in the future, intercoms will not only provide audio connectivity solutions, but access control capabilities, environmental management and temperature sensors. “This would all be available so that a single device can do more and provide more intelligence to a building management system,” Coffin says.

Beyond 2008, improved mass notification is in the planning stages, according to Shanes. “Our next generation mass notification systems being released this year open the possibility for more unified and powerful solutions in the future,” he says. Shanes also says some of these projects are labeled “what-if” and “why-not,” because they will only become more feasible as underlying technology becomes more available.

These projects will improve by offering a more human experience, allowing individuals in emergency situations to communicate with security authorities more quickly and effectively. They will also allow for better communications among affected populations in a larger emergency.

Coffin sees a move over the next few years to seamless, pure communication roaming. “Road warriors will be traveling with no limitation,” he says. He also says even with goals such as more secure encrypted communications and a faster network topology, that the future of communications is an evolving timeline. “There are going to be goals attempted and missed in this industry, and it's not required that it all be delivered in 2008.”

Shanes says the user should be pleased in the upcoming years, and will hopefully benefit by increased safety and security provided more efficiently and at a potentially reduced overall cost. “Although it sounds too good to be true,” he says, “it appears that as we enter the stage of unification, we are truly limited only by our imagination.”

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