Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location System for One of Nation's Largest Healthcare Systems

Ekahau Inc., a leading provider of Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), has announced that it has been selected as the RTLS vendor of choice for Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS), the third largest public healthcare system in the United States. CHS is using the Ekahau RTLS solution for a centrally deployed asset tracking application that will work across its acute care facilities. CHS expects to track thousands of assets across its campuses starting with infusion pumps and ventilators, which it began tracking this past summer. When complete in early 2008, it is expected that CHS will have one of the largest, most expansive healthcare industry deployments of RTLS in the country.

"We evaluated the offerings of more than a half-dozen vendors on their technology's performance and scalability, as well as its ability to align with our Wi-Fi strategy," said Clay Fisher, director at CHS. "After extensive review, we felt confident that Ekahau RTLS would not only integrate with our existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, but would provide system-wide visibility so we could accurately and efficiently locate, manage and re-allocate equipment between facilities to maximize usage and ROI."

Ekahau RTLS claims to be the industry's most accurate Wi-Fi tracking solution, offering the ability to locate assets and people over any vendor and generation of Wi-Fi networks. Using patented software-based algorithms to compute the location of tracked objects, it eliminates the need for exciters, choke points, receivers or other proprietary hardware infrastructure.

Ekahau RTLS is server-based and can be installed centrally in a network operations center for multi-campus facilities and can easily scale to support thousands of tags on a single server. Ekahau's software based approach enables Ekahau RTLS to be easily rolled out across geographically dispersed facilities with no need to install hardware or software at those sites. Moreover, it provides system-wide visibility, enabling users to manage not only the assets of a single hospital, but rather multiple facilities, all for the cost of a single platform.

"We are honored to play an integral role in CHS's system-wide RTLS deployment," said Tuomo Rutanen, vice president of Business Development at Ekahau. "Ekahau RTLS is perfectly designed for just these types of large, wide-ranging RTLS deployments in which multiple facilities are connected, thousands of tags are deployed, and potentially thousands of users need to locate valuable equipment. Ekahau RTLS accommodates the Wi-Fi network growth and expansion at CHS without putting any special requirements on the network itself, yet enables it to serve the needs of a diverse and growing set of users on the system."

"Wi-Fi-based location tracking systems clearly have an advantage when used in geographically dispersed deployments, such as the one CHS is undertaking," said Louis Bianchin, senior analyst and program manager for RFID at Venture Development Corp (VDC), a technology market research and strategy firm. "The Wi-Fi RTLS industry has rapidly evolved to the point where larger scale deployments are not only financially feasible, but that technology has matured enough to mitigate risks and offer a reliable solution."

Carolinas HealthCare System owns, leases or manages 20 hospitals in North and South Carolina, and employs some 900 physicians who practice in more than 150 locations. CHS also operates nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, home health agencies, radiation therapy facilities and physical therapy facilities. Together, these operations comprise approximately 4,900 licensed beds and employ more than 33,000 full-time or part-time employees. CHS's flagship facility is Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, an 861-bed hospital which includes a Level I trauma center, a research institute, a children's hospital, a rehabilitation facility and a large number of specialty treatment units (heart, cancer, organ transplant, etc.). CMC also serves as one of North Carolina's five Academic Medical Center Teaching Hospitals, providing residency training for over 200 physicians in 15 specialties.