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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Provider of advanced wirless chipsets and systems.

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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RFID News: Genesis Health System has implemented AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RTLS for hospital-wide asset tracking and management at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport, Iowa.

The solution uses Genesis Health System’s existing wireless network and consists of AeroScout Wi-Fi Tags, AeroScout Exciters and AeroScout MobileView software to track and manage about 700 items throughout the medical center, including infusion pumps, wheelchairs, stretchers and powered air-purifying respirators.

Using RFID to monitor these items significantly reduces the amount of time the staff spends searching for key equipment and gives the hospital a better idea of how to allocate its resources.

The AeroScout solution also plays an important role in the medical center’s disaster preparedness plan. Knowing the exact location of critical equipment has helped the logistics team demonstrate that it can react quickly and deliver the required equipment to the right places on time.

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RFID News: Munich International Airport has announced that it will adopt AeroScout`s GPS and Wi-Fi RFID solution to track thousands of cargo and passenger baggage dollies as they move about the airport. AeroScout T6 GPS Wi-Fi Tags will be mounted on the airport`s cargo dollies, used by cargo companies to pick up and drop off packages, and passenger baggage dollies, used for transporting baggage between terminals and airplanes. The active tags use GPS to determine location of the assets and transmit the data over a standard Wi-Fi network, which the airport already has in place.

Knowing where dollies are at all times will help Munich Airport prevent operations delays or interruptions due to missing or lost items, and eliminate lengthy searches for dollies that are due for their annual maintenance inspections. In addition, the airport will also be able to charge cargo companies more accurately based on the location and usage of dollies, according to AeroScout.

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RFID News: The Southeast Alabama Medical Center (SAMC) in Dothan, Ala. has chosen to expand its Ekahau Real Time Location System (RTLS) to include campus-wide monitoring of its refrigerators and freezers.

SAMC deployed Ekahau’s RTLS campuswide earlier this year to track critical clinical assets, such as infusion pumps and patient monitors over its Wi-Fi network.

SAMC expanded the system to monitor the temperature of perishable items contained within its freezers and refrigerators, including food, medicine, organs, and blood and tissue samples. Any significant changes in the temperature could mean drastic losses of these items, and so SAMC looked to implement a monitoring system with alarm capabilities.

The system consists of Wi-Fi based T301t temperature monitoring tags, the Ekahau Positioning Engine and Tag Management platform, as well as Ekahau’s Vision solution that manages all the system’s alarms and escalation paths. The T301t tags are able to measure temperatures from -200C to + 200 C and feature on-board alarming via a flashing indicator and buzzer.

In the future SAMC expects to grow the RTLS system, which works on its existing Wi-Fi network, to track several thousand more assets.

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Information Week: Like Bluetooth, the Wi-Fi Direct standard will enable peer-to-peer device connections without the need for a Wi-Fi hotspot.

By Marin Perez, InformationWeek

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced a new specification Wednesday that will enable smartphones, laptops, and other electronics to connect to each other without the use of a traditional Wi-Fi hotspot.

The Wi-Fi Direct specification will enable devices to create peer-to-peer connections that have similar data transfer speeds and range as typical Wi-Fi. The alliance said the new standard will be faster than existing ad-hoc modes, and it could be used to enable laptops to quickly connect to a printer, as well as for consumer-oriented purposes like peer-to-peer game machine connections. Wi-Fi Direct devices will also be able to connect with existing Wi-Fi certified devices for one-to-one connections, or several devices can connect simultaneously.

The alliance, anticipating that devices with the new specification could find their way into corporations, has built in some security features such WPA2, as well as management options to ensure Wi-Fi direct devices don't become insecure bridges between the corporate infrastructure and other networks. The alliance expects to begin certifying Wi-Fi Direct devices in 2010.

"Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn't available," said Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, in a statement. "The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise."

The new specification has the potential to displace other peer-to-peer connection standards, but other wireless transfer protocols have been boosting their features. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has shown off the Bluetooth 3.0 standard, which offers faster transfer speeds than previous versions. Near-field communication is also gaining steam as a viable way to implement mobile payment systems, andSony (NYSE: SNE)'s TransferJet protocol offers wireless transfer speeds of up to 560 Mbps between devices.

Please also check another related article http://www.rft.com/images/docs/HIMSSrls_02-08.pdf for Peer to Peer Wi-Fi RTLS.

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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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Tech Target: Meru Networks has pioneered a new wireless LAN troubleshooting strategy that enables end-to-end user simulation in what resembles an out-of-band management system, and is the first in the space to offer such depth of monitoring and reporting.

"This new SAM, or Service Assurance Module, introduces this notion of a dial tone into the [wireless LAN]," said Andrew Borg, senior research analyst with Aberdeen Group. "It's a health check with very low bandwidth utilization … every hand-off of the data through all the layers of the network is being monitored for its health 24-by-7."

Meru's SAM platform takes advantage of a core differentiator in Meru's overall wireless LAN infrastructure: Its access points (APs) all operate in the same channel frequency. Most WLAN vendors take a microcell approach, and have their APs operate on different channels to limit interference. With Meru, the APs assign a MAC address to each client on the network, and that client is passed from AP to AP transparently. That way when a laptop is moved about an office, it sees just one giant AP rather than dozens handing it off across the network.

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