Ten Things to Consider

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MAY 2002 WHITE PAPE

www.questra.com

Ten Things to Consider

When Connecting Devices

to the Internet

John Canosa, Chief Scientist,

Questra Corporation



www.questra.com

TEN THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CONNECTING DEVICES TO THE INTERNET WHITE PAP

Table of Contents

Executive Overview 2

Ten Things to Consider 2

1. If your devices communicate over the Internet—are you maximizing

the business value of what they are telling you? 2

2. When your devices communicate over the Internet—who else is listening? 3

3. How do you reassure your customer's IT department about firewall security? 3

4. The assets you want to communicate with are not always sitting next

to a 100Mbps network connection. 3

5. Your field service people are not always sitting right next to devices in the field. 4

6. A intelligent device management system that gives you more than

status reports and alarm thresholds will increase your ROI. 4

7. How do you get data from all those devices turned into actionable

information and into the hands of the right people? 4

8. How do you find one system that will link several different types of

devices in the field? 5

9. You have invested millions of dollars in corporate enterprise applications—

can you shorten the payback period on intelligent device management? 5

10. Your customers are interested in the reliability of the products they

own right now. 5



Executive Overview

Integrating field-deployed equipment, devices, and instruments into the enterprise

computing environment can increase business value through lowered field service costs

and improved customer relations.

This white paper examines ten key questions that a field service executive should ask and

answer when launching a program to deploy a intelligent device management system tolink devices and equipment in the field to the people who service them.

Why is intelligent device management growing in importance to field service executives?

A recent Harvard Business Review article1 reports that downstream service and mainte-

nance revenue is the fastest growing revenue line item for many product companies. In

fact, whether it be field service and repair, predictive and preventive maintenance, usage-

based billing or sales of consumables, these revenues are already anywhere from 5x to 20x

the revenue from the original sale of the product that is serviced.

Seeing a direct tie to revenue generation, many organizations are looking for ways to opti-

mize their downstream service delivery mechanisms through the deployment of

intelligent device management systems. This new category of enterprise software systemsuses information acquired directly from devices and equipment in the field to drive the

business process. In addition, bidirectional communications capability allows for remote

monitoring and remote execution of diagnostics on the device, creating an environment

where proactive response, call avoidance, and condition-based maintenance are the meas-

urable results.

Ten Things to Consider

1. If your devices communicate over the Internet—are you maximizing the

business value of what they are telling you?

It’s not a simple task to enable devices and equipment across an enterprise to communi-

cate over the Internet, even using standard web protocols. Nevertheless, bringing these

corporate assets onto the Internet is only the first step in the process of converting raw

data into valuable information you can use to run your business.

You will want to use the data you receive to create business rules and initiate complex

business processes. In addition, once you have the data, you will be able to look for trends

in performance, usage, and condition, to give a few examples.

Data has no value until you deliver that data to the people who can act on it. At that point,

you have information, and information is the heart of business value.

Be sure the intelligent device management system you select can integrate smoothly withyour enterprise software to make it easy to convert data into actionable information.

Systems such as the Questra Smart Service Solution™ provide connectors to major soft-

ware packages.

2. When your devices communicate over the Internet—who else

is listening?

Anytime you put your data on the Internet, security is of paramount concern.

Whether you are protecting patient information or hiding a proprietary semiconductor


www.questra.com

Downstream services reven

is anywhere from 5x to 20x

greater than the revenue fro

the original sale of the

product.

Data has no value until you

deliver that data to the peop

who can act on it.



manufacturing recipe from prying eyes, the system that links your devices and equipment

to your enterprise IT systems must be completely secure.

Security starts with encryption, which prevents interception of information as it travels

over the public Internet. The device (or IT system) on the receiving end of the communi-

cation must present the proper credentials and be authenticated. In addition, your security

system needs to prevent authenticated users from performing tasks they are not author-

ized to do. The prudent executive checks that all these security steps are covered before

moving forward.

3. How do you reassure your customer’s IT department about

firewall security?

Because of security concerns, many IT departments simply will not allow other organiza-

tions to penetrate their corporate firewall. In addition, as far as IT departments are

concerned, the fewer companies that have access through the firewall the better.

If you need data from equipment that is located behind a customer’s firewall you need a

solution that does not require any changes to the firewall. Keep in mind that in order to

provide such essential features as remote diagnostics there must be bidirectional accessthrough that firewall.

A intelligent device management system that supports a cluster of devices, should aggre-

gate the communications of the devices behind the firewall and let a single machine act as

a proxy for the group.

4. The assets you want to communicate with are not always sitting next to a

100Mbps network connection.

It would be nice if you could simply plug every remotely deployed device directly into a

10/100-BaseT jack to get Internet communications, but that just isn’t the case. Critical

assets in the field are deployed in a wide variety of locations, with and without broadbandInternet access. You may need a intelligent device management system to connect a

pumping system on a remote oil pipeline or you may want data collected from a portable

piece of medical equipment that is moved around a hospital. Whatever your type of

device or equipment, deployment may include LAN, dial-up, WAN, wireless, and even

satellite links.

Supporting multiple transports is more than just getting the bits into the right physical

format. A transport-independent intelligent device management system such as the

Questra system will be able to support different network latencies and asynchronous

communications, regardless of the location and Internet access available to your devices.

5. Your field service people are not always sitting right next todevices in the field.

A major cost driver for any service organization is the site visit. It costs money, time and

customer goodwill to make a customer visit. A key benefit of intelligent device manage-

ment can be a dramatic reduction in the number of site visits—after all, the cheapest site

visit is the one that is never made. This benefit of reduced site visits, however, will be real-

ized only if your system offers full bidirectional capability. Service personnel must have

remote access to your enterprise information and also directly to the equipment. Having

bidirectional communications allows a field technician to solve problems in the call center


www.questra.com

Anytime you put your data on

the Internet, security is of

paramount concern.

If you need data from

equipment that is located

behind a customer’s firewall

you need a solution that doe

not require any changes to

the firewall.



or diagnose them remotely. The technician can run diagnostics, identify the faulty compo-

nent, and have a replacement part in hand before the initial visit. A second benefit is that

a lengthy diagnostic site visit becomes a briefer part replacement visit, enabling the field

technician to make more visits each day.

6. A intelligent device management system that gives you more than status

reports and alarm thresholds will increase your ROI.Familiar monitoring tools such as HP Openview™ and Micromuse Netcool™ provide a

snapshot of how a device is performing and let you create alerts based on thresholds you

set. While these are valuable features, monitoring and alerts are only the first step in

driving a high ROI for your business.

A intelligent device management system integrates a monitoring ability with remote diag-

nostics capability, and links both into the workflow of the service and maintenance

operations. In addition, you have a record of the historical data that provides the value for

analyses such as condition-based predictive maintenance, usage billing, and reliability

trends. Savvy field service executives look at the number and variety of applications that

can be performed by a intelligent device management system, which has a broadselection of applications and an architecture that will grow with your organization’s needs

in the future.

7. How do you get data from all those devices turned into actionable

information and into the hands of the right people?

Collecting historical performance, condition, and usage data from thousands of pieces of

equipment produces a lot of data. This data is only valuable, however, if it can be analyzed

and the resulting information put into the hands of the people who need it. A intelligent

device management system must be able to handle thousands of devices and must be able

to collect data without generating unacceptable network congestion. You should look for a

system with sophisticated reporting capabilities that can extract the right information forthe right person and link to a choice of enterprise applications for direct value building.

Some systems, such as Questra, use advanced technology to consolidate and condense

data to minimize network traffic loads.

8. How do you find one system that will link several different types

of devices in the field?

Companies support a very mixed bag of devices and equipment. While all are considered

corporate assets, they vary in intelligence, age, operating system, and in the type of data

they provide to the enterprise.

Nevertheless, you need one intelligent device management system that can deal with

them all. This means you need to look for a system that can link to your oldest, least intel-

ligent device as well as your newest Internet-ready equipment. Questra, for example can

link to a device having only an 8-bit processor. It can communicate with Windows, Linux,

or a real-time operating system, and the Questra system uses bidirectional communica-

tions that will not overload your network infrastructure.


www.questra.com

A key benefit of intelligent

device management can be a

dramatic reduction in the

number of site visits—after

all, the cheapest site visit is

the one that is never made.

Some systems, such as

Questra, use advanced

technology to consolidate an

condense data to minimize

network traffic loads.



9. You have invested millions of dollars in corporate enterprise applications—

can you shorten the payback period on intelligent device management?

You expect out-of-the-box benefits from a intelligent device management system.

Nevertheless, it pays to look ahead and choose a system that can link to your enterprise

applications systems (CRM, ERP, and others) when you’re ready to make that step.

Enterprise applications live and breathe data—in fact, they are only as accurate and as

timely as the data you give them. An advanced intelligent device management system will

let you make those connections and deliver data from equipment in the field directly to

the applications that can use it. Since few companies depend on a single enterprise appli-

cation for all their corporate data needs, it makes sense to look for a intelligent device

management system that supports simultaneous links to different enterprise applications.

You want different types of devices delivering data to different applications. Such a system

pays off for you in enhanced business value for your investment.

Questra, for instance, comes equipped with links to field service automation, call center

applications, and customer relationship management systems.

10. Your customers are interested in the reliability ofthe products they own right now.

Service and maintenance are performed on devices that are already in the field, not the

ones you are designing for tomorrow. You need a intelligent device management system

that can be deployed today.

You need to look for a flexible system, since you may want to embed the same system

directly into future versions of that device. Alternatively, in the future you may want to

install the system on a controller attached to the device. Whatever your product develop-

ment plans, you need a system that can grow with you and accommodate the accessibility

of your devices in customer locations, the available communications infrastructure, and

any regulatory issues that may apply.

One way to insure your future plans is to invest in a intelligent device management

system such as Questra, which is designed from the ground up using industry standards

that will ensure smooth growth and development in the future.

About Intelligent Device Management

Intelligent device management (IDM) is enterprise software that monitors and manages

equipment and devices over the Internet. The category was first profiled by Gartner

Group. IDM software allows businesses to deliver efficient service and increase customer

satisfaction with equipment anywhere in the world. IDM software uses data generated by

remote equipment to accomplish usage tracking, monitoring, replenishment, diagnostics

and predictive maintenance.


www.questra.com

About Questra

Questra Corporation is an

enterprise software company

leading the development of

intelligent device management

solutions. The company’s remot

diagnostic and monitoring

applications collect data from

power generation equipment,

medical instruments, and other

remote devices. Equipment

manufacturers and their

customers using the Questra

Smart Service Solution lower

their service costs through

reduced emergency calls,

proactive device monitoring and

diagnostics, and streamlined

accounting for consumables and

usage. Questra is headquarterein Redwood City, CA.

Questra Corporatio

333 Twin Dolphin Dri

Redwood City, CA 940

650.632.40

1 Go Downstream – The New Imperative in Manufacturing, Richard Wise and Peter Baumgartner,

Harvard Business Review, September-October 1999.

© 2003 Questra Corporation. Questra is a registered trademark of Questra Corporation. and/or its

affiliates in the US and/or other countries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this

document are the sole property of their respective owners.

Documents

Ten Things to Consider