Creating Business Value Through Context-Aware Computing

IT@Intel White Paper Intel IT Context-Aware Computing July 2013 Creating Business Value through Context-Aware Computing Executive Overview Context-aware computing Intel IT is discovering that context-aware computing offers substantial business provides task-relevant value across the enterprise. Context-aware computing factors in the situation of an information or services, making entity—whether a person, place, or thing—and provides task-relevant information tasks more efficient and or services, making tasks more efficient and improving decision making through context-driven recommendations. improving decision making through context-driven Examples of broad enterprise use cases that We are just beginning to use context recommendations. offer business value include the following: awareness at Intel. We are developing a central context-aware computing service • Employee and team productivity. because many use cases have certain Context can improve team effectiveness aspects in common. This centralized context and the use of office resources while as a service transforms available sensor data personalizing computing interfaces. into information that can be used and reused • Enforcement of IT consumerization, in multiple use cases to create business value. security, and privacy controls. Context A centralized context-awareness service also can be used to enable a flexible and helps future-proof our investment in context- dynamic security model that can adapt aware computing against inevitable changes to a user’s work or personal situation, in sensors and data types. enforcing the appropriate controls to We are working to realize the business value protect corporate intellectual property of enterprise-level context computing and and assets, and to protect a user’s have already conducted several successful personal information. proofs of concept. We plan to continue to • Business continuity. Sensors can monitor evaluate sensors, share learnings with Intel factory equipment to help predict equipment product groups to improve sensor accuracy, failures and enable proactive maintenance. and manage privacy risks. Paul Donohue Handheld Engineer, Intel IT • Facilities management. Sensors can help reduce energy costs by providing better James Harris Audio/Video Engineer, Intel IT energy management and can help reduce the need for preventive maintenance Jon McDermott through automation. Enterprise Architect, Intel IT Dave Stone Prototype Engineer, Business Client Platform Division IT@Intel White Paper Creating Business Value through Context-Aware Computing Contents ESTABLISHING information could include directions to vacant parking spaces closest to the Executive Overview ............................. 1 CONTEXt‑AwARE meeting location. COMPUTING USE CASES Establishing Context-Aware – Personalize computing interfaces; for Computing Use Cases for the FOR THE ENteRPRISE example, an application might know Enterprise ............................................... 2 In the consumer market, context- what resources are nearby, such as aware applications are fairly common. printers, scanners, and networks, and Exploring Context-Aware automatically connect to them without Computing at Intel ............................... 3 However, in the enterprise, context- aware applications are currently any effort on the employee’s part. Sensor Evaluation ............................. 4 rare because of their technical – Increase processing power by taking Delivery of Context as a Service .... 5 challenges, security risks, and privacy advantage of unused CPU cycles on Proofs of Concept ............................. 6 concerns. That reality is changing. workstations distributed across Intel’s Key Learnings..................................... 8 As connectivity, mobility, and sensor private enterprise cloud. technologies continue to evolve, What’s Next for Context-Aware • Enforcement of IT consumerization, they create new opportunity in the Computing at Intel ............................... 9 security, and privacy controls enterprise. We can now digitally gather – Enable IT consumerization by supporting the context in the form of information Conclusion ............................................10 a flexible and dynamic compute model that can be used to characterize the that adapts to a user’s work or personal For More Information ........................10 situation of an entity—whether a situation. person, place, or thing—and use that Acronyms ..............................................10 – Support a dynamic security model to information to provide business value. protect corporate intellectual property We are developing context-aware computing and assets. because we believe it has the potential to – Protect corporate physical assets, such provide significant benefits that can empower as laptops or printers, by using sensors end users and the enterprise as a whole. and geofencing.1 For example, context-aware computing can – Manage access to an employee’s personal provide task-relevant information or services, information based on his or her consent; automate or make tasks more efficient, and for example, an employee may choose improve decision making through context- to share his or her specific geolocation driven recommendations. We foresee diverse information with other co-workers. uses for context data in the enterprise that include the following: • Business continuity – Monitor equipment, such as factory • Employee and team productivity water pumps and fans, to help predict – Improve team collaboration and equipment failures. project velocity by providing a way for IT@INteL employees to share information—if they – Combine equipment monitoring data The IT@Intel program connects IT choose to—about their current context, with key operating parameters to professionals around the world with their such as whether they are in or out of create dashboards and alerts for peers inside our organization – sharing the office. equipment health. lessons learned, methods and strategies. – Improve the use of office resources – Enable proactive maintenance that Our goal is simple: Share Intel IT best such as conference rooms, printers, would reduce downtime and potential practices that create business value and damage, as well as reduce overall make IT a competitive advantage. Visit and available desks or parking spaces. maintenance costs by enabling an “as us today at www.intel.com/IT or contact – Provide personalized just-in-time needed” rather than a “just in case” your local Intel representative if you’d information, such as the time and location preventative maintenance model. like to learn more. of an employee’s next meeting. If the meeting is at a different campus, the 1 Geofencing is the process of establishing location-based borders using positioning technology. 2 www.intel.com/IT Creating Business Value through Context-Aware Computing IT@Intel White Paper • Facilities management Intel IT, in partnership with Intel business Quantifying the Opportunity for – Reduce energy costs by providing groups, is investigating context-aware Context-Aware Computing better energy management. computing in the enterprise through three No Centralization activities. + Solutions developed – Improve data center load balancing by one use case at a time optimizing server workload based on • Sensor evaluation. Many types of power, temperature, and workload priority. environment sensors currently exist, and – Automate equipment monitoring so more are entering the market. The goal of BUSINESS VALUE OPPORTUNITY facility technicians do not have to our evaluations is to identify the types and We Are Here perform preventive checks; they can work combinations of sensors that provide the best information and, therefore, the most on projects with higher business value. and Complexity Cost business value. Centralized Context-as-a-Service Approach – Provide space-usage data that can help • Less expensive and less time-consuming • Easier to adapt to new technology planners optimize new or existing office • Delivery of context as a service. As we • Easier to implement security and privacy policies areas based on actual usage. This data develop a central solution, we focus on – – Context-Enabled Applications + could help match workspace supply four areas. and Sensors – Abstraction that hides the underlying with demand and forecast future needs. Figure 1. Having identified diverse enterprise complexity from users and application use cases for context-aware computing, Intel developers IT believes it is more efficient to establish a centralized approach instead of creating a – Aggregation to combine context data unique solution for each use case. EXPLORING from multiple sources CONTEXt‑AwARE – Interpretation of sensor data to transform COMPUTING AT INteL raw data into meaningful context The development of context-aware – Policy management to enforce privacy, computing is part of Intel IT’s larger security, and legal controls effort to enable enterprise applications • Proofs of concept (PoCs). Projects can to support the devices of today, such demonstrate enterprise relevance and as touch-enabled business Ultrabook™ business value while generating ideas devices and tablets, and also develop for more use cases. applications that are ready for emerging Increasingly, Intel and OEMs are adding interaction methods, such as voice, sensors to platforms. We are deploying to gesture, and perceptual computing. Intel employees the newest generation of business Ultrabook devices, which are As Figure 1 illustrates,

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