Ekahau and VeriChip team up — MobileMonday Global: Industry News

^{Keeping an eye on healthcare patienst and assets} Ekahau and VeriChip team up

Antti Korhonen

14 Aug 2007 at 06:22 GMT Timo Poropudas

California and Finland-based Ekahau Inc., a provider of Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), Monday announced that it has entered an agreement with VeriChip Corporation to collaborate on wireless solutions for the healthcare market.

The agreement covers RFID-based healthcare security systems from Xmark, a VeriChip subsidiary, and Ekahau’s Wi-Fi-enabled RTLS. Specifically, the companies will collaborate on providing solutions around asset tracking, infant protection, patient safety and theft prevention in the healthcare industry. Solutions such as wander prevention, perimeter security and campus to bed-level tracking of assets are initial areas of focus for the collaboration.

The two companies are also cooperating on an integrated solution that combines RFID and Wi-Fi technologies to suit the particular needs of certain customers.

"We expect this agreement to boost the market visibility of Xmark’s Assetrac asset tracking system, and further support sales of our infant protection and wander prevention systems," Daniel A. Gunther, President and CEO of Xmark, said of the agreement.

"By partnering with Ekahau, we can offer our customers a broader range of solutions for all their locating, tracking and security needs."

"This agreement combines the best wireless solutions available to the healthcare marketplace," said Antti Korhonen, president and CEO of Ekahau. "Xmark offers a superior solution for a variety of security applications, while Ekahau has been extremely effective in tracking assets across large hospital campuses. Together we can offer hospitals the technology they need to meet their most urgent needs."