Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Mon, April 6, 2009
Sun, April 5, 2009 Aruba Networks, Inc.: Aruba Networks' Real-Time Location Systems Lower Costs by Leveraging Wi-Fi Infrastructure to Keep Tabs on
SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - April 6, 2009) - Aruba Networks, Inc. (
"RTLS systems are poised to make a significant impact on the enterprise," said Paul DeBeasi, senior analyst at the Burton Group. "Advances in location technology, expanding enterprise wireless use, and additional governmental emergency regulations will drive the deployment of RTLS applications. Inventory and asset tracking systems reduce the costs associated with looking for misplaced assets, improve workflow productivity by ensuring that assets are deployed to locations with the greatest need. Any device that is communicating with the wireless LAN has the potential to be located in real time, including Wi-Fi phones for Enhanced 911 services."
In its simplest and least expensive implementation, RTLS uses Aruba access points to identify the position of Wi-Fi enabled laptops, PDAs, printers, and other devices. Location information is tracked, displayed, and recorded by the recently updated AWMS VisualRF™ Location and Mapping Module. The VisualRF module is fully integrated with the AirWave platform, and the RTLS information it generates is available through the same easy-to-use, Web-based interface through which other tasks are managed.
"In addition to showing the real-time location of devices, the VisualRF software can playback the history of where these devices have moved over the past several hours or days," said Bryan Wargo, general manager of Aruba's AirWave division. "In the event that a device goes missing, the playback feature can be an invaluable assistant in tracing where it went. For users who want to track the location of PCs and other Wi-Fi based devices, the location capability integrated into the AirWave suite will offer the lowest cost solution."
For more precise locationing applications, Aruba's adaptive wireless LANs interoperate with AeroScout and Ekahau RTLS solutions. These sophisticated tracking solutions use dedicated RTLS location engines and smart Wi-Fi tags that can be affixed to equipment, people, or pallets. In addition to precisely identifying position, some of the tags also transmit telemetry data such as temperature, duress, intrusion, and two-way text paging.
Aruba and AeroScout leverage a tag beaconing method that helps reduce network traffic and conserve tag battery life. High scalability is ensured by enabling communications without requiring the tags to complete an 802.11 association with an access point, and potentially tens of thousands of tagged assets can be tracked and managed with minimal impact on the wireless network. This beaconing method enables AeroScout's tag battery to last up to eight years. An Aruba and AeroScout solution sheet is available online at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/partners/PSB_AeroScout.pdf ].
"Our Aruba-compatible solutions for hospitals and healthcare organizations include asset management, equipment maintenance, temperature and humidity monitoring, workflow management, and patient and staff safety applications," said Dave Strauss, AeroScout's vice president of business development. "AeroScout's comprehensive solution encompasses a range of Wi-Fi tag models, AeroScout's Location Engine, and MobileView software."
To simplify the deployment of Ekahau's tag-based RTLS solution, Aruba and Ekahau have jointly published a design and implementation reference guide. The guide includes implementation guidelines for the Aruba-Ekahau Blink Mode. Unique to Ekahau Wi-Fi tags, and optimized for use with Aruba's Adaptive Radio Management technology, this Blink Mode uses two-way communications to provide higher location accuracy and five times longer tag battery life. The new implementation guide can be downloaded from Aruba's Web site at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/WP_ArubaEkahau.pdf ]. An RTLS tag solution brief is on-line at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/partners/PSB_Ekahau.pdf ].
"Our integration with Aruba highlights the fact that Wi-Fi based RTLS is the easiest way for hospitals to introduce location tracking applications for asset, patient, telemetry and workflow management," said Tuomo Rutanen, Ekahau's vice president of business development. "These integrated systems can automate several critical operational healthcare processes where campus-wide visibility and 100 percent bed-level accuracy are required. Wi-Fi based real-time location -- coupled with two-way messaging, temperature and other sensing applications -- eliminate the cost and complexity of deploying multiple proprietary systems to deliver critical healthcare operations information."
About Aruba Networks
People move. Networks must follow. Aruba securely delivers networks to users, wherever they work or roam. Our mobility solutions enable the Follow-Me Enterprise that moves in lock-step with users:
-- Adaptive 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks optimize themselves to ensure that users are always within reach of mission-critical information; -- Identity-based security assigns access policies to users, enforcing those policies whenever and wherever a network is accessed; -- Remote networking solutions ensure uninterrupted access to applications as users move; -- Multi-vendor network management provides a single point of control while managing both legacy and new wireless networks from Aruba and its competitors.
The cost, convenience, and security benefits of our secure mobility solutions are fundamentally changing how and where we work. Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at [ http://www.arubanetworks.com ].
About AeroScout
AeroScout is a market leader in unified asset visibility solutions. Customers improve operational efficiency using AeroScout products that leverage standard Wi-Fi networks to track and manage the location, condition and status of mobile assets and people. AeroScout's global customer base consists of leading hospital, manufacturing and logistics organizations, including many of the Fortune 500. The company invented the first Wi-Fi based Active RFID tag, and today is widely recognized as leading the market in number of deployments and tags shipped. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, AeroScout has offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. For more information, please visit [ http://www.aeroscout.com ].
About Ekahau, Inc.
Ekahau, Inc. is an industry leader in Wi-Fi based RTLS solutions. Ekahau's RTLS technology is routinely recognized for its superior performance in customer benchmarking and competitive evaluations of Wi-Fi based location tracking solutions. Ekahau's customers, including several Fortune 500 companies worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau's solutions are used in more than 150 hospitals around the world, as well as by manufacturers, mining/oil/gas companies, government agencies and the military. Ekahau is a U.S. based corporation, with offices in Saratoga, California; Reston, Virginia; Helsinki, Finland; and Hong Kong, China. For more information, please visit [ www.ekahau.com ].
© 2009 Aruba Networks, Inc. AirWave®, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Bluescanner, For Wireless That Works®, Mobile Edge Architecture, People Move. Networks Must Follow., The All-Wireless Workplace Is Now Open For Business, RFprotect, Green Island, and The Mobile Edge Company® are trademarks of Aruba Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
