LBS - it's no B.S.

Do you ever have those paranoid thoughts that our technology is getting so advanced that it may actually take over the world one day (kind of like in that movie, I, Robot with Will Smith...)?

Will Smith talks to robots.

Well, don't worry, you're not paranoid. It's already beginning to happen.

Just kidding. It's not. If you're feeling that paranoid, you might want to consider taking up meditation or yoga. But, we can't blame you for being in awe at how far our society has come with technology in recent years, and how much further we can potentially go.

In the telecommunications world, so much progress has been made in the growth of technology uses that it's hard not to let our jaws drop just a bit (see Geeking out over VoIP-enabled toys and Virtualizing for the future). One such advancement really isn't all that new, but it is something that people might not normally think about because it's been incorporated in their day-to-day lives so much within the last 10 years.

Location-based service (LBS) has played a major role in helping technology help to make our lives easier. Generally, it requires global positioning system (GPS) technology to track where a device is and where it travels to. In fact, if you're an owner of a smart phone or tablet, you encounter LBS daily and probably don't even realize it.

When you update your Facebook status from your DROID RAZR, LBS is registering your exact location, even if you don't "check in" anywhere. When you do a Google search on your brand new iPad for the closest Greek restaurant to your office, LBS is using your GPS location to help narrow your search results.

Mitel, a global provider of business communications and collaboration software services, has a mobility application called Unified Communicator Advanced (UCA). With this application, LBS is used to help determine your availability based on your location via GPS and your Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection.

For example, Tiffany, one of our communications consultants, uses the Mitel UCA application on her personal cell phone to twin her desk phone number. That way, she can make and receive calls from her cell phone under the guise of her desk phone number while she's out in the field. But, say she goes home instead of heading back to the office after being out on a client site visit all day. While her UCA status is set to mobile over her phone's own internet connection, the moment she comes in to her personal Wi-Fi zone at her house, her UCA status will change to whatever she had previously programmed it to change to (for this purpose, let's say she programmed is to change to "Gone for the Day" when she's at home). So, if she's ready to end her work day and her phone is already set to "Gone for the Day," any calls coming in to her number will be automatically directed to her voicemail.

ShoreTel, another leading provider of unified communications solutions and IP business phone systems, has a similar product that allows for its users with mobility enabled on their mobile devices. With the ShoreWare Mobile Call Manager, LBS is enabled by a waypoint, or:

"a data point that associates an action with a specific location. When your device receives a GPS signal in the location specified by the waypoint, while Mobile Call Manager is in the foreground application, the action defined by the waypoint is performed." 

DrVoIP, a VoIP blog, highlights these capabilities:

"With the ShoreTel Version 9 the GPS in my phone can use my current location to set my call handling mode and effectively change my external assignment. So when I am in the office, all the calls to my extension ring in at my desk. If I go out for lunch the GPS notes my location as 'not in the office' [and] changes my external assignment and my calls start ringing in on my cell. When I finally get home from a long day at the beach, the GPS notes that I am home and assigns my extension to my home phone."

So while our technology might not be taking over the world any time soon, with the ability for a tablet or phone to detect its owner's location and adjust their mobility statuses for their work phone, perhaps we should start calling smart phones intelligent phones, instead. We think it has a bit of a ring to it!

Is your jaw dropping (even just a little bit) at this LBS business? Talk to us! We partner with both Mitel and ShoreTel, and can tell you which phone system will best fit your company's needs. Visit our website - www.mavericknetworks.net - or send us an e-mail to info@mavericknetworks.net!