Technology and Networks

Party Plates Company has established the need for a new proposal with wireless technology. Team B will research some marketing tools that will assist Party Plates in meeting their goals of advancement in sales and certain goals. This proposal will focus on wireless technology that will be beneficial to the party plate business. Team B will also provide the pros and cons to these wireless technologies and justification of the choice to incorporate them into Party Plates Company. In the proposal, Team B will also include a spreadsheet presenting the equipment needed for using the technologies and the costs associated with each.

The wireless technologies that Team B recommends for Party Plates Company are WIFI and Radio Frequency Identification, also known as RFID. WIFI is a medium-range wireless technology that allows electronic devices to exchange data using radio waves over a computer network. These radio waves are transmitted using an antenna called a wireless access point. (Rainer Jr & Cegieiski, 2011) WIFI will save Party Plates Company the expense paid on having wires installed throughout the company. RFID technology consists of a small chip that is attached to inventory items. These chips include a unique identifier that acts as a barcode or magnetic strip would. RFID technology will allow Party Plates Company to keep up with their asset tracking, while identifying and accounting for items quickly, accurately, and inexpensively.

RFID will also allow Party Plates Company to improve their supply chain efficiently, keep up with their inventory count, along with much more. RFID consists of wireless readers, writers, and printers.

WIFI and RFID are very reliable wireless technologies; however, they also possess their own disadvantages. WIFI signals can be reduced depending upon how far you are from the router. This can slow the network speed, just as when too many people are using the service. “The demands of a large number of users attempting to access a Wi-Fi network at once can tax the bandwidth capacity of the network, causing outages.” (Blank, 1999-2012) There is also the problem of security when using WIFI. Using this wireless technology makes it harder to control the content viewed, especially when personal computers can access the network. RFID can typically be a more expensive technology than your normal barcoding system. You can choose between using active RFID tags or passive RFID tags. Passive tags are very similar to a barcode; however active tags can be activated to track movement and count in a quick manner. Active tags are more expensive, but certain types can be reused. RFID tags can also be larger than a regular barcode and can be more difficult to understand than a typical system. Also, “Some common problems with RFID are reader collision and tag collision.” (What is RFID?, 2012) These types of collision occur when multiple readers or tags are in one area making it difficult to pick up the correct signal.

Both of these wireless technologies would work well for Party Plates Company. WIFI is easy to use, efficient, and flexible. Although there may be difficulties with security and network overload, if the WIFI is password protected and monitored these possibilities could be diminished. RIFD is secure, efficient, and more accurate than a normal inventory control system. The increased price for system upkeep and possible collisions are only small problems to accurately control inventory and regulate sales.

REFERENCES

Blank, C. (1999-2012). The Pros & Cons of Using Wireless Internet Services.
Retrieved from EHow: http://www.ehow.com/about_5348495_pros-using-wireless-internet-services.html

What is RFID? (2012). Retrieved from Technovelgy: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/technology-article.asp

Ranier, R.K. & Cegielski, C.G. (2011). Introduction to information systems: Supporting and transforming business (3rd Ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.