January 2nd, 2006
Riker to Base: Vocera brings Star Trek to Business
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
It’s not as sleek-looking as a Star Trek: The Next Generation combadge (and it doesn’t look like a StarFleet insignia) but it’s getting there. The Vocera Communications Badge is 4.2″ tall x 1.4″ wide, and the technology is making inroads into hospitals, hotels, etc.
The Vocera Communications System consists of the communicator devices, plus Vocera software and a Nuance Communications speech-recognition engine on a server. The system uses VoIP to send calls across the enterprise Wi-Fi network, but those calls can also be transmitted via a WAN between offices.
Organizations looking to use a VoIP system such as Vocera’s have to make a commitment to a ubiquitous, high-quality Wi-Fi LAN, said Bob Egan, an analyst at the Tower Group. That requires site surveys and ongoing work to monitor interference, which can be expensive, Egan said. Source: InfoWorld
We Say: I can see how you’d have to be have to have a commitment to monitoring interference. I have enough problems just getting my Bluetooth headset to work without static around my home Wi-Fi network (Bluetooth and 802.11b/g both operate within the 2.4 GHz band) and this is way beyond that!
Cheese Toast says:
With flexible screens starting to show up, I wonder how long it will be until we see a “Global” communicator like on Earth: Final Conflict.
January 2nd, 2006 at 9:25 am
Rich says:
My dad was in the hospital last January (’05) and all of the staff had these (or a similar looking device). Most of the staff complained about the voice recognition being horrible. One staff member attempting to use the device to contact dad’s nurse “dialed” the wrong person three times because of the poor voice recognition. She eventually gave up and walked to the nurse station.
January 2nd, 2006 at 11:08 am
Michael Santo says:
Yes, I was wondering about that. I can see this working if there are enough access points to clear up interference / static, but still.
January 2nd, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Mike says:
Any new technology is going to have growing pains. Eventually these type of items will be as prolific as cel phones, think google talk.
January 11th, 2006 at 12:08 pm