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.
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Earth Times: BOSTON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens Enterprise Communications Group (SEN Group), a premier provider of business communications solutions, and PosTrack Technologies have been chosen by Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center (Ottawa Regional) to deliver a hosted unified communications (UC) solution. With the SEN Group OpenScape Voice Application and 24x7 monitoring and service desk and PosTrack ConnectPlus licensing, Ottawa Regional can enjoy advanced communications features without having to manage the system internally, making it easier to focus on their core business - healthcare.
While many healthcare providers have scaled back capital expenditures, Ottawa Regional continues to invest in patient care, adding a new cancer treatment and radiation oncology center, as well as an expanded diagnostic imaging center. Residents of LaSalle County, Illinois and surrounding communities benefit from a comprehensive range of healthcare services, including inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical care, emergency care, pre-natal and post-partum care, rehabilitation and physical therapy, behavioral health services, home health and hospice care.
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GPS Business News: A French start-up named Insiteo and specializing in indoor positioning has concluded the initial phase of a founding round valued at several million Euros. Investment has been secured from venture capital firm Emertec and a small group of private investors, including Anne-Sophie Pastel, former CEO and co-founder of auFeminin.com, with the support of ACTA Finance.
“The increase in capital will enable us to equip our first clients, including a major site in Paris attracted by the benefits of the Insiteo solution,” said Arnaud Masson, President of Insiteo. “Ours is indeed a disruptive technology able to deliver to most existing phones a perfect continuity of location services in environments where GPS is unavailable, including commercial centers, tradeshows, and industrial sites,” Mr. Masson continued.
Insiteo’s technology is an infrastructure-based solution that combines A-GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and, in some cases, FM radio to provide indoor, sub three meter positioning. “We’ve identified sites where our clients place a sufficiently high value on being able to deliver location-based information that they can justify a modest investment in site-specific infrastructure”, explained Stuart Strickland, vice president at Insiteo. “Unlike many RTLS systems – which, in some respects, this approach resembles – we do not rely upon any customized user equipment, so anyone with a phone can essentially walk in and participate”, he added.
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PRWEB: Vancouver, B.C. (PRWEB) September 21, 2009 -- Rx Networks, Inc., a leading mobile location technology company, today announced its new XYBRID™ multi-mode positioning engine. XYBRID™ uniquely combines Cell-ID, WiFi signals with Assisted GPS ephemeris and coarse position aiding to yield fast and ubiquitous positioning for virtually any device.
"As a low-overhead, operator independent Assisted-GPS solution, XYBRID RT™, the first and real-time version of the solution, is optimized for service providers and device manufacturers - such as asset tracking companies - in need of fast global positioning, and for whom the lack of Assisted-GPS roaming or cost variances make it impractical to consider implementations across multiple operators", said Guylain Roy-MacHabee CEO of Rx Networks. "Also, in contrast with other GPS aiding solutions that can potentially expose user identity XYBRID RT™ contains no user identification mechanism and ensures security and privacy for applications that need it, such as tracking high value cargo."
"XYBRID RT™ is a perfect fit for Fastrax offerings and more importantly, for our customers. There is a continuous need to improve fix availability and TTFF in "impossible" environments in almost every asset tracking application. With our XYBRID RT™ based offering we serve our tracking customers as well as our GPS module customers even better than before and we expect this extended service to be greatly appreciated", said Fredrik Borgstrom, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Fastrax.
Rx Networks supports flexible business models and XYBRID RT™ can be licensed on a usage or a lifetime subscription basis. Rx Networks provides a XYBRID RT™ mobile client compatible with most mobile operating systems and most GPS chipsets. XYBRID RT™ will be available for commercial use in December 2009.
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Reuters (Business Wire): REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sep 02, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing unit of the Premier healthcare alliance has selected AeroScout's healthcare visibility solutions as the exclusive Wi-Fi-based RFID solutions for Premier's member hospitals. Premier, a quality and cost improvement alliance of more than 2,200 U.S. hospitals and 63,000 other healthcare sites, awarded a three-year contract to AeroScout as a preferred provider for RFID Asset Tracking and Management Solutions. AeroScout solutions provide visibility into the location, status and condition of assets, patients and staff throughout all hospital departments. AeroScout is already the chosen solution for hundreds of hospitals and is exclusively endorsed by the American Hospital Association.
"Premier is proud to offer RFID solutions that drive key benefits for hospital organizations, such as ensuring regulatory compliance, improving patient safety, reducing capital and operational expenditures, increasing staff efficiency and enhancing patient care," said Mike Alkire, President of Premier Purchasing Partners.
AeroScout's healthcare solutions include real-time Asset Management, Equipment Maintenance, Humidity & Temperature Monitoring, Workflow & Resource Management and Patient & Staff Safety. These applications all employ AeroScout's industry-leading technology that leverages clients' existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and integrates with most healthcare IT software systems. AeroScout solutions serve the needs of clinical staff, IT management, clinical engineers, biomedical engineers, materials management, laboratory staff, pharmacy personnel and many other hospital users.
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MARKETWIRE via COMTEX: CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM, Aug 28, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- "The introduction of the IBM/Ubisense system has resulted in accident prevention and overall employee safety improvement as well as adding to POSCO's reputation for innovation by leveraging UWB technology in a first-of-its-kind solution", comments Han Ku Park, project manager at POSCO in Pohang. "All the project objectives have been met on time and within the planned budget. The project team of IBM, POSCO and Ubisense have created the first of its kind in Korea and probably in Asia.
"The Korean version of Ubisense will allow us to satisfy the enormous demand we have witnessed since first introducing the product to research institutes in 2006", says HB Choi, General Manager, Ubisense Korea. "We already have deployments in 25 organisations and with immediate availability of a fully compliant product we will be able to satisfy the enormous pent-up demand we have seen from the Industrial and Manufacturing Market".
Korean Manufacturers include some of the highest volume automotive plants in the world, so the timing of the availability of Ubisense, already with a worldwide reputation at reducing costs and improving productivity for leading companies such as BMW, Honda and Caterpillar is pertinent, says, Simon Holloway of Manufacturing Consultancy, Bloor Associates.
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Wi-Fi Planet: Skyhook Wireless, known for its Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) and its hybrid positioning system (XPS), continues to quietly expand its user base. The company announced Tuesday a partnership with Geodelic, developer of the new Android mobile application, Sherpa.
Sherpa, which allows users to locate relevant information based on behavior recognition, a recommendation engine, and location-relevant information, was developed specifically for T-Mobile's myTouch 3G with Google. The app teaches itself what its owner likes based on behavior and user feedback, so it can prioritize the retailers, restaurants, and attractions it recommends. Geodelic also allows businesses (or brands) to create customized mobile content, such as promotions tied to their locations.
“Skyhook offers a major enhancement to the application’s location awareness,” said Rahul Sonnad, CEO and founder at Geodelic in a Skyhook press release Tuesday. “This allows Geodelic to more accurately target content for a user, whether they are in a mall or walking down the street. We developed Sherpa to give users a customized experience based on their location and interests. Skyhook provides the location performance that our application demands.”
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Australian IT: AGED-CARE provider PresCare investigated a range of electronic aids for residents at its newest Queensland site.
After trialling the use of wireless radio-frequency identification chips at several of its complexes, PresCare built a $30 million flagship facility at Carina, in Brisbane, offering state-of-the-art technology services.
Known as Vela, the Carina site, which will soon have its official opening, began taking residents in March and now has 54 occupants. It is expected to be fully occupied by Christmas.
Vela offers video-on-demand, Foxtel, free-to-air TV and internet protocol phones and radio in residents' rooms. The site has 154 beds, with $5.5m invested in technology alone.
PresCare technology director and chief financial officer Greg Skelton said the focus of the facility was improving safety and the in-room experience for residents.
"We were finding that a lot of our residents were having falls and they could not get to a fixed point, so they were often stranded calling out for help," Mr Skelton said.
"We put this RFID solution together so that we can actually find the residents within a 3m proximity of wherever they are."
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PR WEB: RFID Solutions Aimed At Increasing Visibility, Compliance Verification And Reduction Of Liabilities For Enterprise Clients.
Sparks. MD (PRWEB) August 17, 2009 -- AiRISTA, a U.S.-based provider of leading-edge auto-id, visibility & track and trace solutions (www.AiRISTA.com) announced the availability of its new and enhanced partner program in U.S and abroad. According to Sy Sajjad, CEO of AiRISTA, this new streamlined program was designed to encourage, benefit and empower mid-sized and smaller business partners all over the globe in addition to the company's traditional large system integrator partners. AiRISTA's most comprehensive and technology-agnostic solutions offer tremendous growth potential and business opportunities to our partners. AiRISTA continues to rely on the sales, service and the technical expertise of its partners to satisfy a wide range of customer needs both in U.S and internationally.
Frank Shirmo, AiRISTA's COO, adds that this new program introduces three levels of partnership designations and is structured to offer Partners with the maximum level of support based on their contribution, commitment, markets served and location of business. The addition of our latest international Platinum Partner, (our highest designation for a partner), ATNET Corporation Pty Ltd within the past few weeks in Sydney, Australia, speaks to the business value offered by this program.
Our philosophy is to never underestimate the importance of investing in innovative solutions that will improve our ability to understand, anticipate and address our customers' needs, said Tony Stefanovski, CEO of ATNET Corporation. AiRISTA is a strong partner that meets our customer's requirements for high-quality end-to-end RTLS, RFID solutions. It is my expectation that our solutions will strengthen the market positioning for both of our companies greatly.
Deployment of AiRISTA's personnel tracking solutions is planned for several of our enterprise customers within the next few weeks in Australia.
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