Tying it all together

GPS. Engine diagnostics. Wireless communications. So much technology. So many voices. Is it a chorus or the Tower of Babel?

The vision is a world with seamless integration of technology. Everything is intelligent. Everything is wireless. Everything works. Equipment operators are happy and productive, and business owners are steeping in profit.

The reality is often a world in which levels of technology are uneven. Nothing talks to anything else. The systems have more moods than a rabid Chihuahua. Operators fear the stuff, and owners rue every nickel they tossed into the technology sinkhole.