Jan 27, 2011The following are news announcements made during the past week.
GuardRFID Ships New One-year Umbilical Tag for TotGuard
Vancouver, Canada-based GuardRFID Solutions, a developer of active RFID solutions, has announced that it has begun shipping its one-year-reusable Umbilical Tag for use with its TotGuard Infant Security system. That solution leverages GuardRFID's active tags, which transmit at 433 MHz and employ a proprietary protocol, to help protect infants in hospitals and ensure that they are where they are supposed to be. The system offers wireless interfaces to a variety of communications devices, customizable alerts and alarms, a large database for evaluating activities and events, and custom reporting of tracked data. The firm already offers the TotGuard disposable and three-month umbilical tags. The new TotGuard one-year umbilical tag weighs less than 6.5 grams, while the single-use disposable and three-month versions each weigh less than 5 grams. The lightweight and ergonomic design, the company reports, mean TotGuard umbilical tags add only negligible weight to umbilical clamps placed on infants.
Atos Origin and NXP Intro End-to-End Security in the Smart Grid
Atos Worldline (a division of IT services company Atos Origin) and NXP Semiconductors have announced an end-to-end security and authentication solution designed to protect so-called "smart grid" networks against energy theft, privacy breaches and grid attacks, by securing information culled from the grid, as well as identifying and tracking components within it. (A smart grid is a power-distribution system that uses communications and information technologies for the generation, delivery and consumption of electrical energy.) The solution includes Atos Worldline's Energy Security Service (ESS), which provides encryption of messages sent from smart meters to meter data-management platforms, as well as encrypted storage of the data in a back office, and the company's Smart Meter Personalization (SMP) to protect confidential information from unauthorized and unnoticed access. Those services are being teamed with secure last-mile devices and authentication technology from NXP, including NXP au10tic integrated circuits (ICs) that can be used to identify and authenticate Smart Grid components, in addition to NXP smart-card reader ICs, contactless reader ICs, Security Access Module (SAM) ICs, Mifare and SmartMX technology and Near-Field Communication (NFC) controllers for the creation of prepayment functionalities. "As a leading supplier in intelligent energy management, Atos Origin brings tremendous experience in both conventional and real-time IT solutions for the utility market," said Chris Feige, the senior director and general manager of the company's tagging and authentication product lines, in a prepared statement. "We are very pleased to be working closely with Atos Worldline on securing the Smart Grid from the end devices to the smart meter, and on to the utilities' energy management platform."
HID Global Launches Initiative for RFID Animal Tagging
HID Global has announced that it is ramping up efforts in its Identification Solutions (IDS) RFID animal-tagging business. The company has appointed industry veteran Jean-Miguel Robadey to serve as its global director, responsible for extending HID's two-decades-long RFID tagging expertise into the rapidly growing market for solutions that can improve the traceability of individual animals through the supply chain. Robadey has nearly 20 years of experience and extensive knowledge of the animal-tagging segment, the company reports. Most recently, he served as the product line director at Smartrac Technology, in Singapore, where he drove all activities related to the company's animal ID offering. Prior to joining Smartrac, Robadey was the head of the food and animal business at Sokymat SA (owned by HID's parent company, ASSA Abloy), where he successfully executed the Swiss company's 30 percent annual growth strategy between 2005 and 2007. He also held a number of product-development, manufacturing and management positions during his 16-year tenure with that company, with increasing levels of responsibility. HID Global cites an October 2010 report from market-research firm IDTechEx, entitled "RFID for Animals, Food and Farming 2011-2021," which estimates that the current $5 billion global RFID market will triple over the next ten years, not least because a great variety of needs and government regulation are driving adoption in animals, food and farming—a sector that the firm expects to grow nine-fold over the course of the decade. HID currently develops and manufactures a range of transponders specifically designed for livestock and pet identification, as well as for tracking applications for research and exotic animals. The company's portfolio includes standard and customizable ISO-compliant products, such as glass tags and electronic units, that make it possible to automatically record the origin and history of individual animals. The company also indicates that it plans to offer complete solutions for numerous animal-tagging applications.
Socket Mobile, a provider of automatic-identification and data-capture (AIDC) solutions, has partnered with real-time location systems (RTLS) provider Ekahau to offer customers of Socket Mobile's solutions in the health-care and hospitality sectors a system for detecting and fixing network-related issues. The solution leverages the Ekahau Site Survey (ESS) software, a Wi-Fi planning, verification and troubleshooting tool that businesses can utilize to identify, map and manage their wireless local area networks (LANs). With ESS, Socket's customers can detect, analyze and correct network-related issues, thereby ensuring optimal onsite performance of their SoMo 650 handheld computers, as well as other Wi-Fi devices, on their network. In addition, the Wi-Fi-based Ekahau RTLS offers users, supervisors and IT departments the ability to accurately track deployed Wi-Fi-enabled SoMo 650 handheld computers. "We want SoMo 650 users to experience seamless mobility within their working environment," said Dave Bledsoe, Socket Mobile's senior product manager for handheld computing products, in a prepared statement. "Health-care and hospitality providers need to be able to focus 100 percent on their customers, and to do that it's important that they have a properly configured Wi-Fi network ensuring their infrastructure and devices coexist and operate at their full potential."
Yawkey Cancer Center to Use RTLS for Patient, Staff and Asset Tracking
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has announced that it has selected a real-time location system (RTLS) from Versus Technology to assist with patient tracking, room utilization, workflow optimization and reporting at its new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. The institute is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and the new 275,000-square-foot Yawkey Center, scheduled to open on Jan. 30, 2011, is a clinical center with 130 examination rooms, 137 infusion chairs and numerous patient and family consultation rooms. Versus leverages tags that transmit infrared (IR) signals, as well as RFID as a back-up solution, in the event that the IR signal is blocked or not operating properly. When a tag's IR signal, emitted every three seconds, is received by the IR reader at a particular location, the interrogator transmits its own ID number, along with that of the tag, to the Versus software. If the IR signal is not being received (if, for example, a blanket is covering the tag and its infrared beacon), the RFID system provides a backup: The tag emits a 433 MHz RFID signal, which also beacons every three seconds, using a proprietary air-interface protocol. The institute's decision to deploy Versus' RTLS at its Yawkey Center was based on a three-month pilot project conducted at one of Dana-Farber's current adult cancer clinics, which sees an average of 200 patients per day. The implementation at the new center will be used for the real-time location of patients, staff members and equipment, as well as for workflow automation, throughout the clinics on the ninth and 10th floors—chosen because those areas will house the workflows originally piloted. According to Versus, chair-level accuracy was key for the functionality of the workflow rules, as well as for documenting patient location, and that accuracy will enable the clinic to identify which patient is in a specific infusion chair, for how long, and who interacted with that individual. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has purchased 1,000 tags, and plans to begin using them once it opens.
Radiant RFID, Precision Dynamics Release Reusable Gen 2 UHF Wristband
Radiant RFID, a provider of RFID asset-tracking solutions, and Precision Dynamics Corp. (PDC), which produces wristband and label systems, have announced a new, rewearable and reusable EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) wristband with a read range of up to 4 meters (13 feet). The wristband, the companies report, is composed of silicone material enabling it to function and be worn for extended periods of time, such as days, weeks or months. It is designed for RFID tracking applications requiring comfort and long wear, such as on cruise ships and at theme parks, trade shows, festivals and long-term special events. The device—which is offered in more than 20 colors and numerous sizes, and which supports custom graphics—is compatible with all EPC-compliant Gen 2 RFID readers, as well as Radiant RFID's access-control, asset-tracking and evacuation-management solutions.
