News

Solar storms may affect mobile device connectivity

With NASA reporting on recent Solar Storms that had the potential to disrupt power grids, GPS systems, satellites and airline flights, TAAP has warned that mobile software applications which operate purely via the internet as opposed to directly on the device, may not function in the event of extreme weather systems.

Solar flares have triggered storms of charged particles which hit the Earth. The solar storms are known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The charged gas collides with Earth’s magnetic field and disrupts it, which can interfere with technology such as electrical grids, satellites, and communications systems.

Because many mobile applications are not ‘true’ applications that operate offline, as they need an internet connection in order to download/view/transfer data, extreme weather occurrences could mean that entire field service departments, marketers, and mobile workers, are unable to use their software applications.

TAAP provides software applications which work directly on the device, and only use an internet connection to upload and download data. Therefore, information can still be captured and saved to the device in situations where poor connectivity occurs. This means that workers can continue to operate as normal if they use mobile applications to perform daily tasks.

Steve Higgon, Product Architect commented:“By providing software applications which work offline, for PDAs and tablets, TAAP enables its customers to be productive even if they lose their connection to internet services. There are numerous reasons for poor connectivity, so it’s important for organisations which rely on mobile systems to run their daily operations to have a back-up plan in place if their internet services are intermittent, when they are travelling or working out of the office.”

Offline services can also be made available for access to third party data such as postcode checker and bank checker, which some of TAAP’s longstanding not-for-profit/charity clients are now taking advantage of, to ensure that supporter data can still be validated in areas or buildings where there is no internet connection. These offline services can be used by any customer wishing to validate an address or verify that a bank account and sort code combination exists, without connecting to the internet.