Business Wire: REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the recent announcement of an agreement between Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., and AeroScout, the Premier healthcare alliance announced today that it has selected AeroScout as the sole source provider of RFID Asset Tracking and Management solutions for Premier’s ASCEND™ program. The three-year agreement covers AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RTLS healthcare visibility solutions for all ASCEND members. AeroScout’s solutions will leverage ASCEND members’ standard Wi-Fi networks and offer a broad range of applications and capabilities that deliver strong returns for hospital organizations.

ASCEND (Accelerated Supply Chain Endeavor) is designed to help healthcare providers achieve and sustain rapid improvements in supply chain performance. It also assists Premier alliance member hospitals in ongoing efforts to control and reduce costs through simplified purchasing processes, appropriate clinical utilization and specially negotiated contracts. More than 90 participants that represent approximately $2.7 billion in supply chain purchasing volume and close to 24,000 hospital beds are collaborating to share best practices in supply chain efficiency as a part of the program.

“Premier and ASCEND are committed to providing members with systems and solutions that improve quality, heighten safety, manage risk and reduce costs," said Mike Alkire, President of Premier Purchasing Partners.

AeroScout addresses the entire set of visibility application requirements of hospital organizations in the most comprehensive and cost efficient manner. With AeroScout’s scalable Unified Asset Visibility solutions, customers can work with a single, proven provider and implement one platform for all current and future asset, patient and staff visibility needs. AeroScout’s solutions include real-time Asset Management, Equipment Maintenance and Humidity & Temperature Monitoring and are exclusively endorsed by the American Hospital Association.

“We’re proud to be the exclusive provider of RFID Asset Tracking and Management Solutions for Premier’s ASCEND program,” said Gabi Daniely, Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy at AeroScout. “This selection reinforces AeroScout’s position as the top vendor in the category and the market, and we look forward to working with ASCEND hospitals toward the common goal of improving operational performance as well as overall patient safety and care.”

For more information on enrolling in ASCEND, please visit www.premierinc.com/ascend.

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TMC Net: By Marisa Torrieri, TMCnet Editor

Since Arnold Clark Automobiles upgraded to a WiFi (News - Alert)-and-RFID-based system via the Cisco Unified Wireless Network this summer, cars have become so much easier to track that the European independent auto dealer has already saved 125 hours a month, which means two service workers can focus on other areas.


Before implementing the Cisco (News - Alert) Unified Wireless Network, “the dealership -- which has 145 locations and 8,000 employees across the United Kingdom – would sometimes find it challenging to track down the right car for the right customer quickly,” saidChris Kozup ( News - Alert), senior manager of mobility solutions for networking giant Cisco. The flagship dealership, located in Stafford, maintains an inventory of 1,000 cars for sale at any given time on a 12-acre lot and 74,000 square-foot showroom.

But when a customer arrives to the sales lot, associates typically have less than 10 minutes to engage the customer and find the right car or they could lose the sales opportunity. With the new Cisco-based system in place, a sales associate can pinpoint the exact location of a desired car within minutes. First, the sales person goes to a terminal with Arnold Clark’s inventory management software that is connected to the AeroScout Vehicle Tracking Solution application. They select the parameters – for example, “customer wants a 2007 blue four-door” -- and plug in that information. The tracking system scans the inventory to see the cars that match the criteria, and then, “pings into” the Cisco “Mobility Services Engine” to determine where the car is located. Because cars wear active Radio Frequency Identification (or RFID) tags that send out signals to the tracking system, their location on a floor plan or lot is exact, Kozup said.

“What the Cisco Mobility Services Engine does is allows us to take that location information and put it into the AeroScout Vehicle tracking solution,” Kozup said. “And the combination of that information with the tracking solution helps the car sales associate know where a car is located on a floor or lot plan.”

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Sargent & Greenleaf prides itself on a tradition of quality and innovation which stretches back to 1857. It was then that James Sargent, a bright and inventive young sales agent for Yale & Greenleaf Lock Manufacturers, made the decision to build a lock that would offer a level of security that far surpassed any device available at the time. The result of his resolve and genius was Sargent’s Magnetic Bank Lock, the first successful key changeable combination lock. The lock gained almost immediate acceptance from safe manufacturers and the United States Treasury Department, bringing financial stability and paving the way for James Sargent to continue bringing new ideas and products to the security industry.

In 1865, one of Mr. Sargent’s former employers, Halbert Greenleaf, became his equal partner in the firm of Sargent & Greenleaf. A manufacturing facility was built in Rochester, New York, and the company remained in that city until 1975. James Sargent was never one to rest on the success of past achievements. In 1868, he invented Sargent’s Automatic Lock, bringing refinements to the original Sargent’s Magnetic Bank Lock.

Then, in 1873, using parts from locks and two, eight-day kitchen clocks, Mr. Sargent created the first time lock to be installed on a bank vault door. He personally connected the time lock to the vault door of the First National Bank in Morrison, Illinois, on May 26, 1874. This lock continued to secure the vault for nearly forty years until the bank was remodeled and a larger vault was built.

In 1880, Mr. Sargent connected one of his combination locks to a delay timer, creating the first Time Combination Lock, a lock that would remain locked for a predetermined amount of time after the combination was dialed. This was the forerunner of today’s Sargent & Greenleaf Timebination®.

These inventions are just a sampling of the numerous advancements and innovations in security hardware that can be attributed directly to James Sargent. His tireless efforts and clear vision of what makes for good security were responsible for the success of his young company. These same qualities continue to drive Sargent & Greenleaf today.

Times have changed since the early days in Rochester, New York. Sargent & Greenleaf now occupies 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 22,000 square feet of offices in Nicholasville, Kentucky. The company also serves European and other international customers from a facility in Switzerland. Safe manufacturers, independent safe technicians, and locksmiths around the world rely on the quality and value of S&G products.

Today, Sargent & Greenleaf offers the largest selection of mechanical and electronic locks for safes, vaults, and safe deposit boxes, as well as leading the industry in other specialty security devices. We remain committed to the ideals of our founder, James Sargent. We listen to and understand our customer’s needs and respond with the most innovative, quality-driven security products in the industry.

Integrated Solutions for Retailers: (Nicholasville, KY) Sargent and Greenleaf (S&G), a business of The Stanley Works, introduces a revolutionary new intelligent safe locking system, called Trak*iT, designed to help retailers and other cash intensive businesses reduce and prevent cash losses.

Sargent and Greenleaf’s Trak*iT solution combines expertise in safe locks with proven RFID technology and internet-based, real-time information to provide a powerful deterrent to internal theft. Using RFID, the Trak*iT system can track deposits from the POS register to deposit into the safe, to withdrawal and ultimately to the bank. All information about the deposit is captured by the Trak*iT system and pushed to the internet based Trak*iT Data Manager Service. Trak*iT™ Data Manager delivers 24/7 access to all deposit and withdrawal information and can generate predetermined exception alerts to help assure cash policies are followed.

“Cash losses in the form of missing deposits are a significant and costly problem for retailers,” states Bill Dempsey, President/COO, Sargent and Greenleaf. “Reported cash loss figures range from 0.5% to 2% of annual sales, and for large chains that operate hundreds or thousands of locations, these types of losses are a significant problem. When a deposit goes missing, either through internal theft or simply misplaced, it is usually not discovered until days later when the deposit is to be processed by the bank.”

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Equity Bulls: Hyderabad, September 14, 2009 : Bartronics India Limited (Bartronics), one of India's largest bar code and RFID technology companies today announced that its subsidiary, Bartronics Asia, has been selected for a RFID project from Avitar Group, in which Bartronics Asia will aid and manage the Avitar initiative to automate the distribution process using RFID technology.

Avitar, a Singapore-based group with operations around the world, is focused at its core in the wholesale and distribution of mobile phones, including software products, with a focus to expand into related businesses in the international arena.

Bartronics will develop an application specifically aimed at mobile phone distribution warehousing, where each mobile phone box is tagged with an RFID label and each label in turn associated to an International Mobile Equipment Identity (Unique IMEI) number of each phone via a handheld RFID reader. The Bartronics application involves automatic scanning and reading of mobile phone boxes stacked up on a trolley for outbound dispatch.

The RFID application detects and reads mobile phone boxes en masse when a trolley is pushed through a Gantry RFID reader at exit doorway to ensure physical outbound quantity matches actual quantities dispatched.

"Bartronics is delighted to add Avitar to its list of clients in the RFID space, where we are emerging as strong space leaders. Our work on this RFID application is a great example of our thought alignment – making business work. Avitar operates in a fast-paced business of phone distribution and moves close to 40,000 mobile phones per month. Our RFID system would help streamline its processes and improve delivery turnaround time, enhancing overall customer service level," said Sudhir Rao, Managing Director, Bartronics.

Bartronics Asia aims to work closely with Avitar to productise the application and others to follow to jointly market the solution to the region, Sudhir Rao added.

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Reuters (Business Wire): PITTSBURGH--(Business Wire)-- ClearCount Medical Solutions, an innovator of patient safety solutions for the operating room, announced today that its SmartSponge System was named a runner-up under the medical devices category in the Wall Street Journal 2009 Technology Innovation Awards. The award recognizes companies, individuals and organizations world-wide for technological breakthroughs in such areas as medicine, software, the Internet, wireless and consumer electronics.

"We are honored to be recognized by the Wall Street Journal for innovation leadership because innovation is the cornerstone of our technology platform and our overall business approach," said David Palmer, ClearCount`s President and CEO. "This award is a reflection of co-founder Steve Fleck and our entire team`s passion and commitment in developing groundbreaking technology that improves both patient safety and productivity in the operating room."

ClearCount was one of four companies recognized in the Medical Device category. Winners were chosen based on whether the innovation represented a breakthrough from conventional ideas or methods in its field, and whether the innovation goes beyond incremental improvements on technologies that already exist.

ClearCount will be honored at an awards ceremony and dinner October 13, 2009 in Redwood City, California at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay Hotel. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the Dow Jones VentureWire Technology Showcase.

The SmartSponge System is the first and only system to incorporate the efficiency of counting with the safety of detection for the purpose of preventing a retained object during surgery. The SmartSponge System is the only system to provide continuous vs. episodic counting. Providing an average of 80,000 counts per procedure, this continuous counting benefit makes the difference in complex surgeries where shift changes and delays often occur, as well as providing valuable assurance in every surgical case.

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PR News Wire: FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamic Computer Corporation (DCC) has finalized a partnership agreement with AiRISTA to add Wi-Fi RTLS solutions to its RFID offerings.

Farida Ali, DCC President & CEO said: "We are proud to announce this addition to our portfolio, particularly for our health care customers looking to utilize their existing Wi-Fi infrastructures to include an RFID tracking system."

The Premier Healthcare Alliance supplier is a single-source RFID systems integrator serving industries including health care, aerospace, defense, education, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. DCC offers active, wired (IR-RF), wireless, Wi-Fi, passive and battery-assisted passive (BAP) RFID-integrated solutions to meet the unique needs of its customers.

"We're delighted to join forces with DCC to offer the industry's most comprehensive Track and Trace solutions in regions where DCC's reputation of customer service and support is already established," said AiRISTA COO Frank Shirmo.

DCC has partnered with AiRISTA along with other leaders in RFID technology to ensure its customers can select from among the best systems in quality, functionality and value.

"Our business philosophy is to let the use case dictate the specific RFID technology rather than convincing customers that a particular solution is a one-size-fits-all fix for their business problem. We help our customers utilize RFID strategically to improve processes and reduce error in their operations." said Ali.

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Reuters: SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)-- Verayo, a security and authentication solutions provider, today announced it has partnered with Bartronics India Limited (Bartronics), one of India`s largest bar code and RFID technology companies, to provide cost-effective RFID offerings to the Indian market. The strategic partnership not only strengthens the long-term cooperation between the two companies, but also addresses the need for differentiated solutions targeting anti-counterfeiting and low-cost authentication. With the partnership, Verayo brings its unclonable RFID chip to India. Verayo`s RFID chip is based on a breakthrough "silicon" biometric technology called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF). PUF technology is a type of electronic DNA or fingerprinting technology for silicon chips that renders the chips unclonable. Working together, Bartronics` RFID tags will incorporate Verayo`s unclonable RFID chip, and can be used in applications such as consumer product anti-counterfeiting, mass transit tickets, secure IDs and access cards.

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PRWEB: ODIN, the global leader in packaged RFID solutions, was recognized by Inc. Magazine as the top ranked RFID Company on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list and more broadly as one of the top technology companies. ODIN was ranked overall out of 5,000 companies selected as 74th in the Washington, DC area and 888 in the USA.

Ashburn, VA (PRWEB) September 3, 2009 - ODIN, the global leader in packaged RFID solutions, was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the country. ODIN was not only the top ranked RFID Company on the prestigious list but also one of the top technology companies. ODIN was ranked 74th in the Washington, DC area, 888 in the USA, out of 5,000 selected. Other notable RFID companies who also made the list include Xterprise, Barcoding Inc, and CSI. ODIN only reported domestic USA financial results and not results from European affiliates.

"One of ODIN's core ideologies is to create Supremely Satisfied Clients™. This is at the nucleus of everything we do. Because of the focus on the client we have grown faster than any other RFID company," commented Patrick J. Sweeney II founder of ODIN. He added, "I personally want to thank all of our great clients for helping us expand with such velocity."

One of ODIN's core ideologies is to create Supremely Satisfied Clients™. This is at the nucleus of everything we do. Because of the focus on the client we have grown faster than any other RFID company I personally want to thank all of our great clients for helping us expand with such velocity. Savvy trend spotters and those who invest in private companies know that the Inc. 5000 is the best place to find out about young companies that are achieving success through a wide variety of unprecedented business models

"Savvy trend spotters and those who invest in private companies know that the Inc. 5000 is the best place to find out about young companies that are achieving success through a wide variety of unprecedented business models," said Inc. 5000 project manager Jim Melloan. "That's why our list is so eagerly anticipated every year."

ODIN is headquartered in Ashburn, VA and focuses on the key verticals Government, Healthcare, Aerospace, and the ITAsset tracking. The company has offices in Dublin, Ireland, Budapest, HU and full time employees in Toulouse, France to serve a growing European client base.

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Amazon (Murtuza Attarwala): Would recommend this book to anyone who is actively working with Location Based Services, or is planning on working with Location Based Services. The initial sections of the book gives comprehensive use cases, where location based services are/can be used. The author then goes into the details of different technologies that are out there in the market that can be used to implement these services. For each technology, the author first describes the technology and then discusses the pros/cons of using that technology to implement the solution. These gives a very good idea, of what technology should be used from the cost/technical perspective for a particular solution. For e.g. what is the expected responsiveness of RTLS for your particular solution, what is the accuracy that you desire, is it room-level or is zone-level good enough, how big a tag is acceptable for your solution, what is the expected battery life of the tag. This book is a must read for anyone interested in Location based services.

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