Feb 17, 2022Presented here are recent news announcements regarding the following organizations: Avery Dennison Smartrac, Sternum, Epson, CenTrak and KLAS Research.
Avery Dennison Intros Pharma RFID Inlay, Accelerator Program
Avery Dennison Smartrac has launched its AD Minidose U9 RFID inlay for pharmaceutical applications, for use in healthcare, pharmacy and laboratory asset management. The Minidose U9 has received ARC certification (Spec S) from Auburn University's RFID Lab, and has been approved for use by the DoseID consortium. The inlay performs in the standard UHF RFID frequency band, 860 to 960 MHz, with a form factor of 22 millimeters by 12 millimeters (0.87 inch by 0.47 inch).
The Minidose U9 offers a long read range in densely packed inventory environments, the company reports, and is certified to work on all current DoseID product categories. The inlay uses NXP Semiconductors' UCODE 9 IC, which comes with 96 bits of Electronic Product Code memory, including a 96-bit tag identifier (TID) with a 48-bit unique serial number factory-encoded into the TID. Available as wet and dry inlays with the UCODE 9 IC, the Minidose U9 is slated to ship in volume during the second quarter of this year. The inlay complies with the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management and ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management standards, the company reports.
"The AD Minidose U9 meets the needs for a wide range of pharmaceutical item-level use cases," said Max Winograd, Avery Dennison Smartrac's VP of connected products, in a prepared statement. "The inlay performs robustly on clear and amber glass, as well as plastics and syringes, even when filled with pharmaceuticals and biologicals. This unlocks critical RFID value for asset and inventory management in multiple pharma or healthcare applications. It also meets specific customer requirements with the goal of ensuring patient safety, increasing nursing 'time to care,' and decreasing inefficiencies in the operational process."
In addition, Avery Dennison has announced its AD Stretch program, aimed at partnering with startup companies to solve key challenges and create new opportunities within sustainability, customer experience and value chains. The company says it intends to engage with the startups to enable disruption and evolution in labels and packaging, strengthen innovation capabilities industrywide and address some of the industry's most urgent business challenges. The program is being implemented in partnership with venture studio Highline Beta.
Following a period of review and consultation, applicants will be narrowed down to 10 finalists, which will go on to execute a pilot project. The program will be launched by regional cohorts, starting in Asia Pacific and Latin America, then will roll out in Europe and the United States later this year. With the end goal of solving a specific problem, each cohort will have a region-specific brief that draws on local challenges. The core themes will focus on connecting consumers to brands through new experiences, creating sustainable, responsible and efficient value chains, as well as the development of materials and packaging 2.0.
"When faced with a complex ecosystem, there are challenges and opportunities in equal measure," said Shruti George, Avery Dennison's senior director for strategic innovation platforms, in a separate prepared statement. "In some cases, the solutions lie in scale and existing infrastructure; in other cases, in agility and a blank page. By combining our financial firepower with the agility of startup innovators, we're supercharging our efforts to increase efficiency in the supply chain, create the next generation of packaging and solve environmental challenges."
Sternum IoT Platform Beats BotenaGo Malware in Live Trial
Sternum, an Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity and analytics platform provider, has announced a successful live-fire test of its smart device security platform against BotenaGo malware. Sternum's solution, which looks out for generic fingerprints of an attempted attack to protect a device's runtime integrity, kept an unpatched device protected in multiple attacks utilizing an exploit from the virus's arsenal.
Botnet malware seeks out vulnerabilities in millions of IoT devices and uses those to deploy malicious payloads, granting hackers control over affected targets. A botnet like Mirai, Sternum explains, can build an army of zombified devices that would be used for denial-of-service attacks and other malicious activities. BotenaGo, the new addition to this malware class, first showed up in November 2021, with 33 vulnerabilities tailored to infect millions of routers. A lot of the exploits on which it relies are command injections, the company notes, which force the device to execute malicious OS commands. In January 2022, BotenaGo's source code was uploaded to GitHub for use by hackers.
Sternum pitted the malware against its IoT security solution in a live-fire trial on an off-the-shelf vulnerable device. First, it used a command-injection exploit from the virus's arsenal to infect an unpatched and unprotected Zyxel NAS326 cloud-storage device. To confirm the successful attack, the company switched the light indicators on the device's front on and off via the malware. Sternum's researchers then installed its solution on the device, still unpatched, and ran the attack multiple times. The solution protected the cloud-storage unit, striking down infection attempts and automatically collecting forensics data, such as timestamps and IP addresses, to pinpoint the vulnerabilities in the device's firmware and offer automatic root-cause analysis.
Sternum reports that its single-click security solution gives connected devices the ability to protect themselves against hacking attempts in real time. It seeks out the generic fingerprints of various attack types, such as command-injection and buffer-overflow, to strike attempted attacks down and protect the runtime integrity of the secured device against both zero-day and one-day attacks. Its design fosters a proactive IoT security paradigm. The solution enables devices to actively defend themselves from novel pieces of malware, the company notes, even before security researchers identify them.
"BotenaGo arms any script kiddo with a potent tool capable of infecting millions of devices," said Natali Tshuva, Sternum's co-founder and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Patching takes time, and we know of a few cases where the devices were left vulnerable even after an available update. By beating the virus without the need for a patch, our platform once again proves itself as a powerful security platform that allows companies to always be one step ahead of the game. By focusing on generic fingerprints shared by all attacks, instead of wasting time and money on patching specific vulnerabilities, it can defeat viruses that haven't even been written yet."
Epson Unveils NFC-enabled High-Lumen Projector
Projector brand Epson has introduced six new Pro Series interchangeable lens projectors, ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 lumens of equal color and white brightness, which come equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality. The company's 3LCD projectors include the EB-PU2220B and EB-PU2120W, which it claims are 64 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter than predecessor models. According to Epson, the projectors feature a tool set designed to simplify installation and maintenance.
In addition to NFC functionality, the Pro Series features the Epson Projector Configuration Tool for an Android- and iOS-based mobile app, enabling users to streamline multi-projector installations. It also features a hermetically sealed optical engine for high dust resistance and a filter-less cabinet for low-maintenance operation. Users can control multiple projectors in a single, large space with the Epson Projector Professional Tool and can manage installed inventory via the Epson Projector Management function.
The laser projectors are suitable for live events, the company reports, and include 3G-SDI input and output to accommodate daisy-chaining and long cable runs, along with a mechanical shutter to protect the projectors during laser-light shows. With an optional attachable camera, systems integrators have access to installation tools such as projector stacking assist function, tiling assist for edge blends, color calibration and screen matching. An optional attachable camera allows access to a feature called Simple Stacking, enabling two projectors to be stacked via a remote controller.
"As a leader in the projector industry, Epson continues to innovate with this new line of Pro Series projectors designed to meet the market need for more compact, reliable and versatile high-lumen displays," said Gavin Downey, Epson America's group product manager for large-venue projectors, in a prepared statement. "As the 20,000-lumen market segment continues to grow, Epson's new EB-PU2220B and EB-PU2120W will become the benchmark for quality and flexibility in live-event installations. With a significant reduction in size and weight over their predecessors, the new projectors simplify setup without compromising performance."
KLAS Research Honors CenTrak Healthcare RTLS
CenTrak, a provider of enterprise locating and sensing services for the healthcare industry, has announced that it has been named "Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) Best in KLAS" for the fourth time by healthcare IT data and insights company KLAS Research (see KLAS Research Honors CenTrak for Its RTLS Offerings). The "Best in KLAS" report recognizes businesses that excel in helping healthcare professionals improve patient care.
KLAS's researchers collect feedback from more than 30,000 health systems and payers from throughout the United States and other countries to generate honest, impartial assessments regarding the performance of software, service and medical equipment vendors. The rankings are the result of feedback from thousands of providers throughout the past year, with CenTrak receiving the highest performance score of all ranked real-time location system (RTLS) vendors.
"Once again, we are pleased to be atop the 'RTLS Best in KLAS' rankings," said David Minning, CenTrak's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Our team seeks to provide the critical solutions needed most by healthcare facilities and senior-living communities, especially during these challenging times. By listening to the industry and our customers and partners, we've been able to further develop our technology to enable resource-constrained teams to be more efficient and focused on what matters most: patient care and a safe environment."
CenTrak's enterprise platform enables healthcare and senior-living solutions, including infection-control applications such as automated temperature monitoring of treatments and vaccines, differential air pressure monitoring in isolation rooms, hand-hygiene compliance for staff, and contact tracing among patients, visitors, employees and equipment. The locating and sensing company offers asset-monitoring and asset-management solutions for medical equipment, as well as workflow and safety solutions for workers and patients via IoT-enabled badges and sensors.
"Each year, thousands of healthcare professionals across the globe take the time to share their voice with KLAS," added Adam Gale, KLAS Research's CEO, in the prepared statement. "They know that sharing their perspective helps vendors to improve and helps their peers make better decisions. These conversations are a constant reminder to me of how necessary accurate, honest and impartial reporting is in the healthcare industry. The 'Best in KLAS' award serves as a signal to provider and payer organizations that they should expect excellence from the winning vendors."
