The following are news announcements made during the past week.
GE Healthcare, AeroScout Integrate Solutions for European Market
GE Healthcare, the U.K.-based, $16 billion unit of General Electric Co., and AeroScout, a provider of Wi-Fi-enabled real-time location systems (RTLS), have announced that they have integrated GE Healthcare’s AssetPlus maintenance- and facility-management software application with AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RFID solution. Targeted for European markets, the combined solution adds real-time asset location information to AssetPlus, and helps streamline key business processes, the two companies report. AssetPlus is a computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) system designed to help hospitals plan for and schedule recurring maintenance, repair and recall of critical medical equipment. More than 1,000 hospitals worldwide employ AssetPlus, according to GE Healthcare. The combination of the two companies’ products also enables medical facilities to improve the management and maintenance of medical equipment, increase patient safety and help control costs. Hospital employees will be able to locate equipment by accessing the AssetPlus application, which receives real-time location updates from AeroScout’s MobileView software. Users can view an asset’s current location and other information on a map, and also see other information culled from AssetPlus’ database, such as hospital asset and serial numbers. In the event of a safety recall, the firms indicate, clinical engineers would be able to quickly locate and recover affected equipment. AeroScout’s RFID hardware leverages a hospital’s existing standard Wi-Fi network, and its MobileView software is available in multiple languages, including German, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.
AZ Monica Hospital Expands AeroScout Deployment
AZ Monica, a 500-bed general hospital located in Belgium, employs AeroScout‘s Wi-Fi-based RFID solution to automate temperature monitoring of its refrigerators, which contain medications, vaccines, blood and other critical items, as well as detect patient elopement. The hospital is now expanding its AeroScout deployment to include patient flow-tracking and staff-safety applications. Belgian IT services firm Skillteam assisted with the implementation. “We needed a reliable solution that improved efficiency and also enabled us to focus even more on patient and staff safety,” said Dirk Van de Vyver, AZ Monica’s campus director, in a prepared statement. “A few months after the implementation of the first phase of AeroScout’s applications, the hospital was convinced of the many advantages of the new solution. We look forward to growing our relationship with AeroScout and to continuing to strengthen our hospital’s operational performance.” According to AeroScout, the temperature-monitoring feature leverages the company’s Wi-Fi sensor tags to measure refrigerator temperatures at defined intervals, and then transmits the data wirelessly to AeroScout’s MobileView software. If a temperature reading deviates from the range specified as safe, alerts are issued to appropriate staff members. This saves clinicians the time required for manually monitoring temperatures, while also improving patient safety. The elopement solution is designed to notify workers when at-risk patients leave defined areas. Alerts are sent to nurses on their Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phones, to draw attention to potential issues. Nurses can then respond quickly, and in the best interests of their patients’ safety and care. With the patient-flow and staff-safety applications, clinicians will utilize Wi-Fi tags with call buttons, which can be triggered to alert other staff members during emergency situations. Alerts will be accompanied by the real-time location of individuals requiring assistance, AeroScout reports. The hospital will also use AeroScout’s technology to track and monitor patient flow in its surgical department.
Zebra Technologies Intros Mobile Printing Apple App for RFID Tags
Zebra Technologies has introduced its ZebraLink Utility app for Apple‘s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, as well as a software development kit (SDK) to create additional applications. The ZebraLink Multiplatform Software Development Kit, the company reports, allows developers to create apps for Apple mobile devices that enable users to send commands to print labels and receipts, and to encode RFID tags directly to a Zebra printer. With the ZebraLink Utility app, users can send a command to print a PDF or a label template directly to a Zebra printer via a wireless LAN, as well as retrieve and print files from the Web, take and print photographs via the wireless LAN, and check printer status and directly connect to a printer via a Wi-Fi connection. Through the ZebraLink Multiplatform SDK, the company notes, developers can create a customized application that integrates printing and includes source-code samples, documentation and on-device demonstration modules for creating custom applications with embedded support for Zebra printers. The numerous options include the ability to create apps to print a wide variety of content, including field-service records, tracking tags, point-of-sale receipts, health-care specimen labels and more, Zebra reports. Specifically, the ZebraLink kit enables the creation of applications for encoding RFID tags via an RFID-enabled Zebra printer, printing multiple bar-code types (UPC, EAN-13, Code128, SSCC-18, Code 39, PDF-417, DataMatrix and Maxicode), and auto-generating variable data-entry forms on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, using templates created in the free ZebraDesigner label-design software. Developers can create a print application on a variety of Apple devices for the following Zebra printers: XiIIIPlus, Xi4, 105SL, ZM400/ZM600, S4M, PAX3, PAX4, G-Series, HC100, MZ-Series, QLPlus Series, RW Series, P4T and RP4T. The ZebraLink Apple Utility and ZebraLink Multiplatform SDK are available now as a free download via Zebra’s Web site; versions are also available for Research in Motion‘s BlackBerry products and devices that use Microsoft‘s Windows Mobile operating system. The ZebraLink Utility App for Apple devices is also available from Apple’s App Store.Ubisense Raises Nearly $8 Million in Fund-Raising Round
Real-time location systems (RTLS) provider Ubisense has announced that it has raised £5 million ($7.9 million) via fund-raising efforts led by Canaccord Genuity, which arranged for a number of new investors to participate alongside existing shareholders. The funding, Ubisense reports, will enable it to take advantage of a growing and significant list of opportunities available in numerous industrial industries, including the automotive sector. Specifically, the company will use part of the funding raised to enhance its relationship with Atlas Copco, an industrial tool firm with which it has launched location-sensitive tools for use on production lines and in other industrial environments. Atlas Copco leveraged a Ubisense tag module announced in July 2010, designed for direct integration into third-party devices (see RFID News Roundup: Ubisense Intros UWB Tag Module for Third-Party Development). The new tools from Atlas Copco—branded the TLS for Tool Location System—are equipped with Ubisense’s ultra-wideband (UWB) location RFID tags that transmit signals to nearby receivers, with location-tracking information analyzed and visualized using Ubisense’s software. The TLS system, according to Ubisense, is designed to help customers improve efficiencies and reduce error rates caused by the incorrect usage of tools. For example, the company reports, BMW employs Ubisense tags to identify each vehicle on its assembly line, and power tools can be programmed automatically to the correct parameters when a specific vehicle enters a work zone (see BMW Finds the Right Tool). The TLS technology is also being used by BMW to provide analytical data that helps improve the efficiency of the overall production process itself, according to Ubisense. “This investment will enable Ubisense to satisfy the growing demand for its pioneering RTLS technologies,” said Richard Green, Ubisense’s chief executive, in a prepared statement. “Manufacturers and other commercial organizations are increasingly demanding the benefits of real-time tracking, not only for asset management but also for the improved visibility they have over their production processes.”
Xerafy Unveils UHF RFID Tags for Europe
RFID tag manufacturer Xerafy has launched a new line of ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags for the European market. The product line includes Xerafy’s smallest RFID-on-metal tags from the company’s X family, as well as embed-in-metal tags from its iN family. For example, the company reports, the PicoX is a 512-bit rugged UHF RFID read-on-metal tag the size of a fingernail. To distribute the products, Xerafy says it has partnered with CoreRFID, a U.K.-based RFID solutions provider and distributor that can provide customers with everything from consultation to integration, products and software. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Xerafy produces tags designed for environments with extreme conditions, such as those with high temperatures and a lot of metal—for example, in the automotive manufacturing, aerospace, energy, IT and construction markets. Earlier this month, Xerafy announced a partnership with KeyTone Technologies, a provider of asset-tracking and managed-service solutions, to offer the Rapid Asset Inventory Delivery (RAID) service, using a combination of bar-code and RFID technologies (see RFID News Roundup: Xerafy, KeyTone Launch RFID-based Managed Inventory-Auditing Service).
IDTronic Announces New RFID-enabled Wristband
IDTronic, an RFID hardware provider based in Germany, has introduced its Wristband Wrist Fit, an RFID-enabled wristband that fits like a watch and can be used, for example, as an access-control device at health clubs and leisure parks. The Wristband Wrist Fit, like the company’s other RFID-enabled wristbands, has a sealed electronic unit and is waterproof, but features new ABS housing with a transparent PVC inlay. The wristband is available with a variety of low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) RFID inlays, including those made with NXP Semiconductors‘ Mifare chips, as well as those with chips from Legic Identsystems. IDTronic’s products support all common standards, the company reports, including the ISO 15693 and ISO 14443 standards. The Wristband Wrist Fit is available now with red, green, yellow, blue or black nylon bands; the standard housing is a black ABS material with a white face.