OSGi Community Event 2007

1. OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation:OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation: Helping Enterprises &
Retail-stores manage & monitor critical business operations
- Raj Tumuluri
Openstream Inc
raj@openstream.com

2. 2OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
Everything that can
be mobile, will be!
The prime driver is devices :
Smaller, Lighter, Faster, More
functional
Pic: Courtesy Dave Ragget, W3C

3. 3OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
Healthcare
Care-givers, Clinical
Trials
Field and Sales Force Automation
Enterprise mobile portals including
CRM, inventory, quote generation,
diagnostics, data collection, and team
collaboration
Product distribution
Inventory, shipping, and warehousing
Industrial
Fleet tracking,
communication, and
management
Mobile Force Automation (MoFA)

4. 4OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
MoFA – OSGi Services
• Built on IBM Expeditor Framework for End to
End OSGi services as shown:

5. 5OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
MoFA Retail
Handheld
Software
MoFA Retail Mobile(s)
Enterprise Service Bus
(MoFA Legacy System-adaptors)
Large In-store Processor
Legacy
Software
Local
TXN
Log
LE Client
POS
Small In-store Processor
Local /
Data and
Functions
Retail POS
Software
WLAN
WLAN/PAN
Legacy
Applications
And
Software
POS Server
MoFA
Web Services
Plugin
WLAN/PAN
Enterprise Back-Office
Enterprise
Service
Bus
Web
Services/
Messaging
Gateway
LE
Server
VPN over WWAN
VPN over
Internet
Operational
Database
Retail
Applications
Config &
Monitoring
Servers
MoFA
WS
Plugin
Over Secure
WWAN
MoFA
Device Location
And
Management
Portal
MoFA
Report
Portal
MoFA Retail
Solution
Component
IBM/3rd
Party Infrastructure
LE- IBM Lotus Expeditor
Legacy Client
Component
MoFA – SoA
( Reail Store Architecture)
LE Client

6. 6OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
Mobile Force Automation (MoFA)- OSGi features
• Device enrollment – registration of the device into the DMS database
• Device configuration – setting device parameters
• Software distribution – distributing, installing and un-installing software or data files to the
device.
• Device inventory – collection of hardware and software information about the device.
• Platforms that can run the OSGi device agent
• For OSGi Bundles - Collects information about the set and state of installed
bundles and services in the OSGi run-time. Information collected includes:
•Bundle Name, Version, Description, Vendor and Bundle State
•Package Name and Version
•Service Name
•Available Res
•Source Names and Values
• The Device Manager plug-in programmed as a servlet on the Device Manager server, interfaces with the Device
Manager server to handle the running of jobs, management of the state of each device session
• The plug-in and the Device Agent communicate with each other using the BaseOMA DM protocol over HTTP or
HTTPS to perform system management tasks.
• Native software distribution - sends native software as an OSGi bundle along with any required prerequisite
bundles to targeted devices and captures stdout, stderr, and return code messages

7. 7OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
MoFA - Retail Store Automation
• Large Energy company with 1000(s) of retail stores in US
 Enabled on Pervasive Devices using Java extending out to the edge
 Standards-based multi-platform solution
• Client needs
 ability for application to run in connected & disconnected modes
 daily updates to device-based business logic to improve performance
 integration of components for an end to end solution involving sensors and
actuators (e.g., Barcode, RFID etc)
 Ability to monitor application state, Logs and Device/component inventory
 Need to distribute & deploy native components based on device-profiles
 Web-browser-based monitoring and deployment tool

8. 8OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
MoFA – Field-Force Automation
• Construction, Healthcare & Utility Services companies in US having
• Pervasive Devices operating in online/offline modes
• Ability to securely deploy application/data components
• Ability to monitor and support large set of field-personnel using multiple device
profiles in real-time
• Client needs
 ability for application to run in connected & disconnected modes
 daily updates to device-based business logic to improve performance
 integration of components for an end to end solution involving speech
recognition sensors and actuators (e.g., Barcode, RFID etc)
 Ability to monitor application state, Logs and Device/component inventory
 Need to distribute & deploy native components based on device-profiles
 Web-browser-based monitoring and deployment tool

9. 9OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
Actual Field Data & Challenges :
Discussion

10. 10OSGi in Mobile Field-force Automation by raj@openstream.com
Thank you
For further information:
raj@openstream.com