A Core Competence Product Evaluation
What Is AirBoss™ ?
GoAmerica offers a suite of application services which are based on the AirBoss™ product line from Bellcore. In the AirBoss™ architecture, a Mobile Network Computing Protocol (MNCP) provides resilience to brief interruptions in connectivity, confirmed data delivery, and efficient use of limited bandwidth through payload compression. The MNCP operates between a mobile computing device - my laptop, HPC, or PDA - and an AirBoss™ Server. The AirBoss Server provides subscriber registration, correlation of application data streams, and filtering based on subscriber and service identity. This architecture allows the AirBoss Server to act as an "agent" between wireless and wireline hosts - for example, by relaying HTTP requests sent to/from AirBrowse and POP3/SMTP requests sent to/from Email Plus. Virtually all customization required to deal with the vagaries of wireless communication is hidden within AirBoss™. I can use standard, off-the-shelf Windows 95 MSTCP on my laptop and standard BSD UNIX TCP/IP on the destination web or email server. Neither need to be tweaked, tuned, or otherwise modified to operate successfully in a wireless environment!
Come On…There Must Be A Few Gotchas?
In any emerging technology, there are lessons to be learned from early implementation, and GoAmerica is not immune to this phenomenon.
Application level timeouts and retries are configurable, but as an end user, I am responsible for retries beyond the reasonable number attempted automatically under the AirBoss™ "covers". I'd like to be able to hit a button in each application window that means "just keep trying!" and have my computer do the rest.
Payload compression and clever application design reduces the amount of data transferred - for example, messages can be forwarded or deleted in groups without downloading message content, and files larger than a specified size can be filtered out when browsing. Even so, surfing the web over wireless can be painfully slow. (But far less painful than squinting at a tiny 1x2" HDML browser, mind you…) Expect future protocol optimizations to further boost effective data transfer speeds, apply sensible filters, and be judicious about hitting web pages that you know to be "bit hogs"
GoAmerica's email client is reasonably full-featured, but it still isn't the POP client I'm accustomed to using on my desktop back home. This email client provides custom features that make operation in a wireless environment more efficient, but I look forward to the day when I can simply add an AirBoss "plug in" to my choice of commercial POP client (e.g., Eudora, Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer).
One final hint to overcome what is hopefully a short-term limitation: The AllPoints™ Wireless modem must be the only network adapter installed in your PC. To circumvent this, I created two Windows 95 configurations, selectable at boot time: one for my LAN/28.8 Analog modem and another for the AllPoints™ modem.
Sign Me Up!
GoAmerica services begin as low as $14.95 per month, including 50 Kbytes of traffic, plus $.30 per Kbyte of additional usage over RAM. Higher cost monthly plans are available which include additional Kbytes. If you'd like to try the service before purchasing a modem, GoAmerica will rent you an AllPoints™ Wireless PC card for $39.95 per month. Finally, an Evaluation Plan is available with unlimited usage; check the GoAmerica web site for details.
I anticipate a future in which mobile computing is truly seamless, where wireless performance matches that of today's high-speed wireline remote access, and where networked applications operate equally well on my desktop and my laptop, everywhere I travel. GoAmerica is a step in the right direction, and I heartily encourage my fellow road warriors to give wireless network computing a try.
Contact:
GoAmerica Wireless Data Services
(1-888-462-4600)
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