eBook

EXTEND DEVICE LIFECYCLE, STRENGTHEN SECURITY

THE BENEFITS OF A UNIFIED PLATFORM FOR MOBILE COMPUTING.

 

The 4 Reasons to Use Mobility Edge for Your Mobile Workforce

Ensuring your enterprise mobile devices have extended Lifecycle and are Secured should not be a challenge.

Siloed Provisioning, Multiple Operating Systems and Devices, Proprietary Connectors and No Single Method for Managing Security are some of the challenges commonly faced by business in deployining mobile devices.

Today, many organizations have disparate devices in multiple form factors for many uses, a myriad of applications for different tasks, and complex IT infrastructure – all of which are difficult and costly to maintain. These mobile solutions are also built on different technology platforms that force companies into siloed provisioning and application support. It’s a technology minefield. Honeywell’s mobile device platform can help navigate.

Honeywell has the clarity of vision, domain expertise, and solution to your mobile device challenges: Mobility Edge™. Mobility Edge is based upon extensive research gathered from Honeywell’s global community of customers from a range of technologies. Honeywell recognized that businesses wanted a unified hardware and software platform for all form factors – one that allowed for rapid deployments, robust performance, and adaptability to changing needs.

We completely rethought our approach to meeting the challenges of supporting a mobile workforce, and Mobility Edge was the answer. This unified, dynamic platform for mobile computing is designed to:

  • Accelerate Deployments
  • Optimize Business Performance
  • Extend Lifecycle
  • Strengthen Security

Established service and support data went into the development of Mobility Edge. We optimized our mobility devices based on the work patterns of many customers and actual users to deliver more realistic testing and precise engineering requirements. Using historical insights from service data, we addressed common failure points during the design phase, making our Mobility Edge products more resilient and stable. We also mined our detailed support data to further improve and refine product quality. By providing a unified hardware and software platform with an agile approach, we can bring you more secure and reliable solutions across your operation.

Mobility Edge offers an integrated, repeatable, scalable approach to workflow automation that is based on a common hardware and software platform with unmatched lifecycle duration and security. It delivers a unified platform that all software solutions are based on. Businesses can develop and deploy faster while reducing development costs and security risks.

The Mobility Edge unified platform is composed of:

  • Common Hardware (System On Module, or SOM), which includes the CPU, memory, WWAN (in selected devices), WLAN, Bluetooth®, near-field communication (NFC), and Zigbee (in selected devices).
  • Common Operating System Image with unmatched Android forward compatibility, from Android 8/O guaranteed through Android 11/R, and committed through Android 13/T*
  • Common Operating System Image with support for multiple generations of Android, from Android O through Android R.
  • Common Software Ecosystem that includes not just Honeywell software, but also Honeywell-approved ISVs (independent software vendors).

Together these common elements minimize your company’s cost, effort, and risk. They accelerate your time-to-value so you can start deploying devices into the hands of your mobile workers much faster. And they maximize your ROI by extending the lifecycle of your devices.

 

REASON #1 Accelerate Deployments

According to IDC Research, the average cost for IT staff to deploy a single device is $700.

In Honeywell’s view, this is unacceptable. We have the solution to slow, labor-intensive implementations: rapid deployment with Mobility Edge.

With the common platform offered by Mobility Edge, you can validate all your mobile devices, use cases, and software once, and then deploy across multiple devices in multiple form factors – faster, easier, and at lower cost.

For example, if you are a retailer, you may have a myriad of devices that are optimized for different environments such as the front of the store or backroom, and others for the distribution or fulfillment center.

With Mobility Edge, all these devices are on the same hardware and software core platform. Your one-time investment in setup, deployment, and provisioning is reusable across all devices.

 

Tools to Accelerate Deployments

Quickly configure and deploy devices into the hands of mobile workers with a comprehensive provisioning toolkit including:

  • Enterprise Provisioner – Allows you to create barcodes that contain provisioning instructions and configuration settings that can easily be scanned by the device operator to provision their device and make it ready for use – quickly, reliably, and with no error-prone manual entry of settings.
  • Setup Wizard – Enables you to quickly set up and configure devices by scanning barcodes, reading QR codes, or tapping an NFC tag.
  • Staging Hub – Allows you to push a bundle of applications and configuration settings to your entire fleet of devices. Staging Hub allows you to see all your devices within the network from a central console and push bundles to each device.
  • Staging Hub – Allows you to push a bundle of applications and configuration settings to your entire fleet of devices. Staging Hub allows you to see all your devices within the network from a central console and push bundles to each device.
  • Android Zero-Touch Enrollment – Allows IT to deploy corporate-owned devices in bulk without having to manually set up each device. Users just open the box and start using the device with management, apps, and configurations all set.

 

REASON #2 Optimize Business Performance

Consider the cost of a single device not being available for use during a shift. What about over the course of a year?

According to VDC2, just one instance of device failure or unavailability per shift multiplied across a year can cost you $20,000 in annual support and productivity loss per mobile worker.

With Operational Intelligence, included in the Mobility Edge unified platform, Honeywell can help you avoid the high cost of an unavailable device, and help you maximize the value of your device investment.

 

Tools to Optimize Business Performance

Take advantage of a range of features to provide the greatest reliability and uptime from your mobility solution including:

  • Data Capture Tools – Honeywell devices include state-of-the-art barcode scanning capabilities and best-in-class computing processor performance that streamline and error-proof work.
  • Wireless Tether – Stay connected to Bluetooth-enabled devices with wireless tethering that alerts you when you lose connection. For example, if your operator inadvertently lays down the device and walks away wearing a wireless headset, an alarm sounds, prompting the operator to go back and retrieve the device.
  • Keypad Creator – For device applications and workflows that require a non-standard data entry format, Keypad Creator allows you to create a custom on-screen keypad specifically for your application.
  • Battery Hot Swap – Select Honeywell devices support swapping out batteries without rebooting the device, enabling the operator to resume work at the point where they left off.
  • Software Client Pack – This suite of three business apps includes a smart Terminal Emulator for data capture and input to back-end legacy server processes. It also includes the Honeywell Launcher and Enterprise Browser to control employee access to approved apps and websites only.
  • Operational Intelligence – A vendor-independent asset management solution that helps you track, manage, standardize, and optimize all your mobile devices, across all your locations. The platform delivers results that have previously been unattainable:
    • Reduce wasteful “No Fault Found” returns
    • Right-size your spare pool inventory
    • Right-place your assets
    • Consolidate RMA processes into one efficient system
    • Verify adherence to RMA vendor contracts

 

REASON #3 Extend Lifecycle

Shorter device lifecycles cause frustration for IT departments with adverse impacts on productivity, security, and ROI.

Mobility Edge is Honeywell’s answer to the need to extend the life of your mobile devices – and get full return on your solution investment. When investing in a Honeywell Mobility Edge solution, you will benefit from unmatched extended lifecycle and security. Here is how we do it:

  • Lifecycle & Security – We have collaborated closely with Google on their Android mobile OS, and with Qualcomm® on our Mobility Edge™ SOM design, to provide a guarantee of compatibility and support for Mobility Edge guaranteed through Android 11/R, and committed through Android T*. Maintaining the most current Android version is the only way Google provides the latest security. Mobility Edge™ provides unmatched Android forward compatibility.
  • Upgrade Flexibility – While the only way to receive the latest Android security is through the most current Android OS version, Honeywell recognizes that some customers have had to resort to remaining on an old Android version. For customers not ready to upgrade to the latest Android version, Honeywell offers Sentinel lifecycle extension service, lasting through as long as 2030, even beyond when Google stops providing security patches.
  • Battery Optimizer – The Battery Optimizer provides information about current battery health and state of charge. It optionally allows users to choose different preset and custom optimization profiles to extend the available runtime of the battery pack, which is useful in situations where an external charger is not readily available.
  • Devices to Support Next-Gen SOM – The modular architecture of the Mobility Edge platform facilitates future development of a new family of models incorporating a next-generation SOM architecture, allowing customers to reduce their upgrade cost by leveraging existing peripherals and minimizing user training when upgrading their systems.
  • Self-Diagnostics – All Mobility Edge devices have an integrated self-diagnostics utility, allowing users to identify and diagnose basic device issues.

 

Android Enterprise Recommended Program

Mobility Edge devices3 are validated through the Google-led Android Enterprise Recommended program. This means these rugged devices meet the defined technical specifications and extended lifecycle support requirements that customers have come to expect for their enterprise device deployments.

So customers can select with confidence knowing these devices are built for hard enterprise environments and can withstand the abuse of daily activities. They can deploy easily using multiple provisioning options including Zero-Touch Enrollment, Google’s fast and simple deployment method. And devices will remain up-to-date over long multi-year deployments with guaranteed security.

 

REASON #4 Strengthen Security

We live in a time where security breaches are a constant threat to business. In 2019, according to IBM Security and Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach was $3.9 million – but it can easily be much more than that.

Just a few years ago, one large national U.S. retailer experienced a security breach that exposed the sensitive data of millions of consumers. The cost in IT, legal, remediation, and related expenses approached $300 million.

 

How Honeywell Strengthens Device Security

Honeywell has a deep institutional and cultural focus on security across multiple domains. We invest over $50 million annually in cybersecurity and employ 300+ dedicated security professionals who are focused on protecting our customers. We design security into our products, policies, and processes. The best way to ensure that you have a secure device is to make sure that you are using the most recent version of the operating system and up-to-date security patches. Mobility Edge with SOM guarantees support through at least Android 11 (R), and committed with reasonable Honeywell commercial efforts to be compatible through Android 13 - giving you the best available security in the industry. Plus we provide a regular security patch cadence for Mobility Edge devices of at least every 90 days, and often as frequently as every 30 days.

Our security built-in, design-to-delivery process has a strong emphasis on programming security into products to anticipate and mitigate risk. We do this by embedding deep domain knowledge of industry-leading security practices throughout our full design and development process to ensure our solutions are as secure as possible from the start. We also make our solutions as free of vulnerabilities to attack as possible through such measures as continuous testing, authentication safeguards, and adherence to best programming practices. And, this isn’t anything new for Honeywell. We have had over 1,000 global engagements since 2006, and are the provider of managed security services for over 350 industrial sites. To continue our focus and lead the way in the industry, we put in place the industry’s first Cybersecurity Risk Manager and developed strategic partnerships with leading cybersecurity product vendors.

Honeywell devices on the Mobility Edge platform are guaranteed compatible through Android 11/R, and committed through Android 13/T*. We are the only company that guarantees support through Android 11 and commits through 13. When Google ends its security patch support, Honeywell is committed to extending security patch availability for 5 more years via Honeywell Sentinel.

Are you ready?

Honeywell is deeply committed to the longevity and quality of the Mobility Edge platform. We have launched the CT40, CT60, CN80, CK65, RT10 and Thor™ VM1A and Thor™ VM3A all running on Mobility Edge. You can expect to see the Mobility Edge family of devices continue to grow year after year, with several under development now. A brief overview of the current Mobility Edge family:

  • CT40 mobile computer, a full-touch, five-inch display device designed for retail, hospitality, and light field mobility environments. It’s an intuitive, compact productivity tool optimized for hours of comfortable use
  • CT60 mobile computer, a rugged versatile business tool for highly mobile frontline workers in scan-intensive workflows in pickup and delivery, DSD, and parcel post. It offers a long-lasting battery, high-performance scanning, and exceptional durability and reliability..
  • CN80 mobile computer, an ultra-rugged device for warehouse, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics environments. The most durable handheld Honeywell has ever made, it features both keypad and large touchscreen interface for quick, efficient data entry.
  • CK65 mobile computer, a rugged, flexible solution for warehouse and manufacturing environments, with both touchscreen and keypad data input options for quick data entry and enhanced scanning read ranges of up to 15.2 m (50 ft).
  • Thor™ VM1A the world’s top-selling vehicle-mounted computer, upgraded to Mobility Edge. Hits the sweet spot of overall size, display size, and keypad. The Smart Dock enables use on multiple vehicles and reduces support and maintenance costs. A field-replaceable front panel minimizes downtime.
  • Thor™ VM3A industry’s most capable full-sized rugged vehicle mounted computer is built on mobility edge and designed for productivity in warehouse. T&L and freight operations. including cross docking and ports
  • RT10A&W rugged tablet designed for rapid user adoption, minimized TCO and optimized T&L workflows. Available for Windows® and Android™ applications
  • Honeywell’s Mobility Edge is a hardware and software platform that drives agile business outcomes – faster, better, with less cost, and less risk.

Read eBook

THE 4 REASONS TO USE MOBILITY EDGE FOR YOUR MOBILE WORKFORCE