DOT Med News: FORT WAYNE, IN -- EXTENSION, INC. and AeroScout have announced that the two companies have collaborated to develop integrated solutions that combine EXTENSION's VoIP alerting with AeroScout's Healthcare RTLS (Real-Time Location System). AeroScout's core healthcare offerings provide real-time location, status and condition information about assets, patients and staff. EXTENSION, INC. provides an appliance-based software application that aggregates HL7 and web-services data from all HIS and EMR systems, delivers relevant information to mobile devices such as Cisco IP Phones and cell phones and allows recipients to send automated responses via their device. Together, the two companies can provide a more enriched, clinically-relevant tracking and alerting solution integrated with the Cisco Unified Communications platform so that healthcare organizations can improve clinical and operational workflows.

Both AeroScout and EXTENSION provide solutions that leverage healthcare organizations' existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. EXTENSION offers a comprehensive solution suite, including EXTENSION® HealthLocate™ for AeroScout and Cisco that utilizes the entire Cisco Unified Communications platform including Cisco Unified Presence Server for location services. Todd Plesko, CEO of EXTENSION, INC. noted, "EXTENSION can offer an extensive number of interfaces through a single, enterprise appliance. When healthcare institutions implement our solutions they can expect immediate improvements in communications among disparate systems, departments and across their entire organization. We are thrilled to have joined forces with AeroScout as this allows us to provide a solution in the fast-growing healthcare RTLS space with the recognized market leader."

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Fresh News: TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- (Marketwire) -- 02/17/10 -- Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) recently selected Versus Technology, Inc.'s (Versus) Real-time Locating System (RTLS) to advance efficiency and safety within the new Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering emergency department (ED). Though Versus has been providing location-based clinical workflow automation to hospitals and clinics for years, the solution at Ajax and Pickering will be the first of its kind to support Ministry of Health and Long-term Care performance goals. This is especially important to RVHS as Ajax/Pickering undergoes an expansion and expects ED patient volume to surge to 60,000 annual visits.

In 2008, RVHS was one of 23 hospitals selected by the Ontario government to focus on reducing ED wait times. "Efficient patient flow is evidenced to have a positive impact on safety, satisfaction and revenue," explains Darren Micallef, Consultant, HC4Site. "The provincial target wait times are very achievable at 8 hours for complex conditions and 4 hours for minor conditions, but hospitals struggle with identifying roadblocks. Bringing in an expert at patient flow, like Versus, is key to ensuring that the provincial targets are not only achieved, but achieved in a manner that is timely, efficient, intuitive for staff and that complements Rouge Valley's unique processes."

The Versus RTLS solution will be deployed in phases. The first phase will include a Dashboard, with key performance indicators (KPIs) like 'overall length of stay' and 'bed assignment to room' times displayed in real-time. A centrally-located electronic whiteboard (also available at individual workstations) will convey patient location and relevant patient information, like assigned caregivers.

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Medic Exchange: Visonic Technologies (VT), a global leader in unified RFID / RTLS safety and security solutions for the global healthcare industry, announces the immediate availability of its enhanced Elpas Active RFID/RTLS Reusable Tag. The tag’s unique form factor and comfort, now makes it more suitable for providing abduction deterrence for newborns and infants in maternity units and neonatal care departments or for the monitoring and tracking of high-risk patients who show signs of elopement and or wandering.

The tag’s dual technology transmitter emits low power, beacon type UHF radio frequency (RF) messages as well as supplemental infra-red (IR) messages that can be used to determine the location of the infant/patient to room level and sub-room level precision in open and enclosed indoor spaces without EMF interference to hospital equipment.

The Reusable Tag incorporates a magnetic low frequency (LF) receiver that adds chokepoint area detection so whenever a patient/infant physically comes in close proximity to a prohibited exit/entrance a security intervention alarm can be configured to automatically trigger. The tag also transmits supervision messages for keeping security personnel informed of device tampering or the unsupervised removal of the patient/infant from the protected area.

The Elpas Reusable Tag has been reengineered in direct response to the growing need for more effective user-friendly, risk management tools in acute care hospitals, psychiatric units, geriatric care clinics; long-term nursing care facilities or pediatric units. “The use of the Elpas Reusable Tag for infant/patient identification, baby/mother matching, wandering patient monitoring, emergency calls and exit/entrance alerting provides healthcare professionals with an innovative solution to these worrisome concerns," said Michael Wasserstein, CEO of Visonic Technologies. “Additionally, the tag’s field-proven hospital-grade IP-67 water-rating outer casing, together with its new low power design ensures more then three years of maintenance-free patient deployments.”

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Pixavi: Pixavi today announced its new intrinsically safe, wireless, real time location system (RTLS), enabling organizations to precisely track location of both equipment and personnel. The RFID tag is certified for both Mining, Chemical plants and Oil&Gas according to IECex and ATEX and covering Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2.

Intrinsically Safe Real Time Location Tracking Tag"We are very excited to introduce this technology to hazardous area applications. WLAN location tracking technology provides close to instant return on investment both from a safety and from an efficiency perspective," stated Pixavi Sales Director, Thomas Zaubi.

Using the award winning RTLS technology from Ekahau, Inc. the Xtag can operate on any existing standard Wi-Fi network, which eliminates the need to install dedicated infrastructure that otherwise would increase the equipment and installation cost considerably.

"By introducing this innovative client application to our diverse explosion proof wireless network product range, we are able to offer our customers a full range of Wi-Fi products, including access points, antennas, VoiP, wireless video communication, wireless surveillance cameras and location tracking devices," Zaubi continues.

Pixavi CEO, Christian Rokseth, added, "Wireless networks are already widely available in hazardous areas, which mean an instant access to this technology for many organizations. Today's worldwide financial situation puts a high demand on efficient and automated operation. Combining the Xtag location system with our Xpoint explosion proof and intrinsically safe access points, with the Xbeam EX explosion proof antennas, enables us to provide customer a full turn-key system. With this complete offering, our customers can now deploy a cost efficient, secure and solid RFID RTLS system for hazardous area Zone 0, zone 1 and zone 2."

Mr. Rokseth continues, "This new RTLS solution perfectly complements our state of the art wireless suite for hazardous area, like Pixavi's own intrinsically safe 802.11n wireless video communication technology, explosion proof wireless network producs, Wireless CCTV products and also third party wireless VoIP, PDAs, Rugged laptops and wireless Sensor Technology in order to increase efficiency and safety on these installations."

Pricing & Availability:

The Xtag is already available for ordering, with a pricing starting from 153 USD per tag. The Xtag is compatible with Ekahau RTLS software which is sold separately.

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Your Industry News: aSpanish Construction Companies FCC and ACCIONA Implement Employee Tracking Solution for Tunnel Workers' Safety, With Ekahau's T301BD Wireless LAN Staff Badge and Pager

Ekahau Inc., the worldwide leader in High Performance Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that together with its Spanish integration partner, BAUTEL Comunicaciones S.L., it has successfully implemented a solution to track workers in underground tunnel projects as a joint venture with the construction companies FCC (Fomento de Construcciones Y Contratas, S.A.) and ACCIONA S.A.. The implementation is based on the Ekahau Wi-Fi RTLS solution that provides real-time location information on the whereabouts of people and assets anywhere within a sites Wi-Fi network coverage area, using the existing enterprise Wi-Fi network as the infrastructure platform.

"This was the first deployment we have done using Ekahau's new T301BD badge," comments Mr Fernando Carnicero, Manager at Bautel Comunicaciones S.L.. "Ekahau is an ideal solution for this purpose, as it provides both the real-time location of the worker in case of an emergency, but also two-way communication with the workers in the tunnel, through the badge's text messaging capability. This has a very clear value to the construction company to increase the safety of its employees, as the construction site is operational 24/7 in 3 work shifts."

The current implementation is operational in the Vigo, Galicia, construction project, where FCC - ACCIONA is excavating 2 tunnels both 8 kilometers (5 miles) in length. The Wi-Fi network is installed in the tunnels using fiber optic cabling for data, voice and tracking purposes. As the workers enter the tunnel in the beginning of their shift, they check in their ID cards for an Ekahau wireless T301BD safety badge. In case of an emergency, management is immediately alerted with the last known location of each worker in the tunnel. The solution also enables workers to call for help by pulling the emergency switch on the badge itself. Once the switch is pulled, safety personnel and management receive the help request with the location information of the incident.

"We have seen an increasing demand for personnel safety applications in several industries." comments Mr Arttu Huhtiniemi, Ekahau VP Product Management. "This Spanish tunnel work site is an excellent example of the value Ekahau's technology can provide in safeguarding the day to day well being of individual workers in these types of environments. Unlike other similar active RFID solutions, Ekahau uses the existing Wi-Fi network as the infrastructure, so the customer only needs to deploy Ekahau software and tags, which makes the deployment very fast and cost effective. In addition, the system provides a full 2-way communication capability for workers through text messaging over Wi-Fi, which is not available from any other RTLS vendor."

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PRWEB: Newtown, PA (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 -- CenTrak, a leading provider of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) for tracking equipment, patients and staff indoors, today announced the release of its new AlerTrak active RFID alarm for hospitals and healthcare facilities. The device notifies hospital personnel via an audible alert if specified people or assets leave or enter a restricted area, providing a valuable new tool for reducing infection spread, patient wandering, and inventory loss.

"A challenge for many hospitals is retention - keeping people and assets where they are supposed to be at all times," said Ari Naim, Ph.D., president and CEO of CenTrak. "AlerTrak actively helps healthcare organizations achieve this goal. For example, the device can be used to create local audible alerts if a quarantined patient leaves a designated area and hospital personnel can be notified immediately to correct the situation. This is especially important right now as the world faces a growing flu pandemic."

Originally developed for patient tag loss prevention, the IT-150 AlerTrak device triggers alerts when hospital-designated tags come within a pre-defined zone. It can be placed at egress and ingress points, or other critical locations. The device can be configured to generate quick audible alerts that can be leveraged by CenTrak solution provider partners.

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Earth Times (PRNewswire): LUSTENAU, Austria and DALLAS, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- IDENTEC SOLUTIONS (www.identecsolutions.com) announced today at the TOC Americas Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina that its industry-leading active RFID technology has been selected by the Tecon Santa Catarina (TSC) terminal in Sao Francisco do Sul, Brazil and DPW Tarragona, Spain for truck identification and automated job promotion integrated with their GPS and Terminal Operating Systems.
IDENTEC SOLUTIONS, in conjunction with SIMEC, a local Madrid, Spain based system integrator, deployed the active RFID based solution including; long-range tags, readers and integration software. IDENTEC SOLUTIONS' tags are affixed to all internal transport chassis. RFID readers are mounted on all containers handling equipment and integrated with the DGPS based Position Determination System. At the quay, the container and ITV/chassis IDs are input to the Terminal Operating System. As a transport vehicle and chassis approach a reach-stacker in the yard, the tag is read and the PDS sends a message to the Terminal Operating System to automatically promote the job for the container on the chassis. The Terminal Operating System then downloads the job to the PDS and the task is executed and automatically confirmed. The automated job promotion solution eliminates data entry, increases productivity in container handoffs and improves safety.
The most recent deployment was completed at the TSC facility in Brazil in July 2009. An identical system was installed for DPW Tarragona in February of this year. Previously, the system was installed for Termavi de Vigo, in Vigo Spain.

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theRTLSBlog.com: Congratulations Intelligent Insites for Best technical development of a WSN/RTLS device at IDTechEx events Energy Harvesting & Storage and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) & RTLS took place in Denver, CO, USA.
The InSites Platform breaks new ground by providing healthcare organizations with a single system capable of locating patients, staff, equipment, and inventory via information derived through a variety of real-time locating (RTLS) technologies. The information is then leveraged to streamline and automate patient flow, asset management, and inventory management activities, resulting in increased productivity and efficient deployment of resources. So far most software solutions are dedicated to a certain hardware type, but this is RTLS technology agnostic. The platform serves as the core of the enterprise visibility strategy for Intelligent InSites’ healthcare clients by enabling the seamless integration of real-time location data with their existing IT systems, communication systems, building systems, and mobile devices. The platform also allows customers and integrators to customize and enhance the system to suit their unique requirements and environment.

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Coolest Gadgets: Ekahau might not be familiar to many people, but it boasts the title of being the leading provider of High Performance Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) in the market. Currently, they have just expanded their hardware portfolio with a new device – the T301W, a wristband tag that was specially designed to be used in applications that determine the precise location of people. Being small in size, it fits onto your wrist comfortably, making it the ideal device for use in hospitals. After all, knowing the real-time location of an adult patient, child or a visitor in hospitals is a requirement for ensuring patient safety and satisfaction.
Apart from that, the wristband tag would also be at home when used in other places including amusement parks, cruise ships and other hospitality venues – basically anywhere where there is a potential for children or adults to be separated from their group. This got me thinking as well – it would be great for tour operators to slap their ‘party’ with one of these each just in case the more independent minded tourists chart out their own trail, especially in crowded places. Businesses can also keep track of visitors to make sure they remain off-limits to sensitive areas, hence preventing unwarranted snooping around.

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Steel Guru (via RFIDJournal.com): Through the introduction of a real time location system, South Korean steel manufacturer POSCO is reducing accidents, improving employee and visitor safety and lowering energy consumption.

To ensure the safety of employees and visitors at the plant, POSCO has introduced its u safety management system, which utilizes ultra wideband radio frequency identification tags and interrogators to monitor all areas of the facility. Each person working in or visiting the plant is provided with a helmet fitted with a battery powered RFID tag, allowing managers to quickly locate that individual in the event of a serious accident, such as a fire or gas leak.

Mr Hanku Park, a senior master POSCO certified professional, said that his company previously had no means of tracking employees' locations throughout the factory. He added that "Ensuring worker safety at the plant is vital and we wanted a system that could track workers, visitors and even vehicles to monitor or limit their access to hazardous areas of the plant. We consulted with IBM Korea to find a solution that would best meet our needs. We conducted technical tests on the RTLS system and software that allowed us to determine the distance required between the tag and reader, given the iron and steel present as part of the production process, as well as determines tag and reader accuracy."

POSCO uses Ubisense's RTLS solution, with Series 7000 RFID tags affixed to personnel and equipment. The tags operate on a frequency of 6 to 8 GHz, beaconing once per second. The Series 7000 readers receive the beacons from the tags to determine position, and that information is then transmitted to the LAS middleware over a local area network.

Click here for complete story from Steel Guru (via RFIDJournal.com)