CMX just keeps getting better. When Connected Mobile Experiences was introduced nearly three years ago, it ushered in a new era of location based-services. The promise and business potential of the solution has always been exciting. The most recent release of Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) 10.2, brings us ever closer to the full potential of that promise. In fact, we're closer than any other solution by a substantial margin. And 10.2 widens that gap as we continue the evolution.

First, the release of CMX 10 represented new code for CMX and delivered substantially higher scalability and performance. With 10.2, we continue to build upon that foundation with new and upgrade features. These features can be subdivided into three categories: Analytics, Location, and Connect.

Analytics

CMX 10.2 introduces two new classes of analytics-social and presence.

Social Analyticsmonitorsthe hash tag Twitter feeds and location of guests and customers to determine sentiment and the need for any specific necessary actions. Venue owners can be alerted of a social media posting that requires an immediate response. For instance, if a hotel guest goes to Twitter to complain about cold water in the shower, the hotel can check the water heater, mitigate the situation, and respond to the guest faster. The rapid response not only helps stop a potential social backlash, it helps also communicate a higher level of customer service and responsiveness.

Presence Analyticshas also been introduced with the newest CMX release. Presence analytics is perfect for a small deployment that doesn't require the exact location of a visitor. When CMX detects a mobile device signal, it determines the presence of that device. Users can set signal strength and dwell time thresholds to define whether a mobile device is a visitor or merely a passerby.

What makes Presence analytics so interesting is how quickly it can be deployed. A user can download and install the CMX 10.2 software and select access points to define a site. And because presence doesn't require maps, map management, or Prime Infrastructure, the entire solution can be deployed in about 20 minutes. Though the process is greatly simplified, it isn't a dumbed down version of the full CMX suite. It is just one capability of the larger solution. In fact, Presence Analytics can be the proof of concept that gets a venue owner interested in a richer suite of location analytics-a spectrum of capabilities fully supported by CMX.

CMX also enables users in specific industries to automatically generate analytics aligned with the needs of their business. Simply select a vertical-retail, hospitality, transportation, other-and CMX will automatically generate the reports most relevant to that industry.

Location

It's important to note that location is a continuum. It can range from presence all the way to accuracy to within a meter. CMX 10.2 now supports this entire expression of location accuracy. The above-mentioned presence analytics represents the entry point of location accuracy. A mobile device user is either in or out of a site. As more location granularity is required, the venue owner can add access points to increase density and accuracy. And, now with the introduction of support for Cisco's award-winning Hyperlocation Solution, CMX 10.2 can support location accuracy to within a meter.

Location accuracy is further augmented with an enhancement to the existing FastLocate technology. As a reminder, FastLocate uses data packets to shorten the normal refresh interval for mobile devices from 60-90 seconds to under 10 seconds. The result is accuracy that is more real time. This greater granularity provides more data points to ensure crowd flow analytics more closely align to the actual movement of the device through the venue. And, for the device user, it means that any push notifications they receive through a loyalty app reflect where they are rather than where they were.

Connect

CMX 10.2 also improves how easy it is to create captive portals. To create a customer portal, simply select a portal type based on your preferred log-in sequence and drag and drop any customized images, icons, or color schemes. You also get more template options in the portal and image library, SMS authentication, a multi-lingual splash page, and integration with external content servers.

With this combination of new and updated features, CMX 10.2 continues to raise the bar for location-based services.