IBM Case Study

“The guys responsible for calibrating the research equipment tell me the Nextel walkie-talkie
is invaluable. Before, when they used traditional two-way radios, they would have to leave
the room whenever they needed to talk with someone because the radios interfered with the
equipment they were working on. They don’t have to worry about that with Nextel Walkie-
Talkie. That alone saves a lot of time and leg work.”
Preiss says that now their Nextel handsets are the primary means for communication, and
they have reduced the need for the two-way radios and about 75 pagers. What’s more, they
proved especially valuable during the East Coast blackout in August 2003.
“Before Nextel, we had poor cellular coverage and a limited number of two-way radios,” said
Preiss. “When the power outage occurred not everyone had a radio, but everyone had a Nextel
phone. By using walkie-talkie service, we were able to maintain communications pretty much
throughout the entire blackout.”
The Nextel in-building solution was developed in partnership with RadioFrame Networks and
also includes an integrated Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that provides broadband
data access to the Internet throughout the IBM Research facilities—allowing visitors to
wirelessly access data without interference through the IBM firewall. WLANs have proven
benefits—studies have shown that a WLAN provides an additional 16 minutes of productivity
per employee per day, an annual value of $6,000 per employee.
The Nextel WLAN solution, a product of Sprint, communicates with a full range of mobile
devices. The solution is Wi-Fi® Certified, conforms to IEEE security standards and has an open
network architecture that allows users to add multiple wireless standards with a simple “plug
and play” upgrade. Furthermore, the WLAN traffic runs over the same infrastructure as the
cellular traffic, which makes installation and management of the network simple and cost-
effective.
Now hundreds of current and prospective IBM Research customers use the Nextel WLAN when
they are on-site to gain untethered access to e-mail, the Internet and data. This capability not
only improves their productivity, but also reinforces IBM Research’s image as a technology
leader.
“Our tech and research people have a deep knowledge of different WLAN systems,” said
Schneider. “They all acknowledge that the Nextel solution is very manageable and provides
an effective and efficient way to manage both cellular and 802.11 capabilities and provide for
future upgrades.”
For more information visit us at sprint.com/cns.
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