Siemens Partners with Ekahau for Precise, Highly Scalable RFID Tracking and Integrated Planning Solutions

Tracking assets and people with Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) over an enterprise Wi-Fi network optimizes business processes and reduces operating costs. That is why Siemens Communications, Inc. has announced a worldwide reseller and integration agreement with Ekahau Inc., a provider of W-iFi-based RTLS solutions and Wi-Fi planning tools. Integrating RTLS into the HiPath Wireless portfolio further builds on Siemens enterprise-wide foundation for mobility, the key infrastructure needed to deliver on the promise of fixed mobile convenience says the company. Customers can now cost-effectively plan and deploy integrated location-based mobile business solutions from a single vendor.

"We're excited to be working closely with one of the leading WLAN vendors in the world," stated Antti Korhonen, president and CEO, Ekahau. "Our combined solution enables our customers to leverage their WLAN investment by delivering state of the art location-based services."

Siemens' commitment to an open communications strategy means enterprises can leverage 'best of breed' partner solutions, which have been integrated and tested with the Siemens HiPath Portfolio of open products. By focusing on delivering products that adhere to open industry standards, Siemens provides its customers with the flexibility and confidence to know they can implement the best possible solutions for their business.

Wireless LANs have quickly become a strategic element of an enterprise's communication infrastructure. Building from their traditional role of on-campus mobile data access, WLANs are now a key component of an enterprise FMC strategy. By utilizing Siemens Enterprise-wide Foundation for Mobility, an organization can now seamlessly connect their VoIP, VoWLAN and cellular communications infrastructures, while also delivering communication enabled business processes such as location-based services across the combined network.

By adding Ekahau's RTLS and site survey solutions to its HiPath Wireless portfolio, Siemens enables its customers to benefit not only from user mobility but also from the cost-effective integration of asset and people tracking in their business processes.
The Ekahau Positioning Engine (EPE) -- now being resold by Siemens -- utilizes active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to track key assets and people across the WLAN. The EPE can track the real-time location of more than 10,000 objects on a single server -- up to four times the capacity of the nearest competitor. This enables Siemens to deliver high-volume, end-to-end location-based services tailored for industries such as manufacturing, warehousing, retail and healthcare.

Siemens has also integrated the Ekahau Site Survey (ESS) tool with HiPath Wireless Manager HiGuard to create the most comprehensive WLAN planning toolset available. Now an enterpriseâ??s site survey planning results are directly imported from the ESS into HiGuard. As a result, network designers can reduce the number of site surveys from three to one, thus dramatically lowering time and cost requirements. Previously, separate site surveys were required for deploying WLAN APs, wireless IPS sensors and RFID tags.

Hymer AG, one of Europe's best-known and most innovative manufacturers of mobile homes, has recently added Ekahauâ??s solution into its existing Siemens WLAN. The company will use the combination to identify and track the locations of up to 1,800 mobile homes and caravans on assembly lines and on the company campus.

"By integrating location services into our Siemens HiPath Wireless LAN, we can optimize our assembly line process sequences and access the necessary vehicles more quickly," said Michael Tregner, managing director, Hymer. "It greatly simplified the planning and deployment of those services."

"With this addition to the Siemens HiPath Wireless portfolio, we can offer the many advantages of real time tracking solutions worldwide to a wide spectrum of industries," said Luc Roy, VP product planning, HiPath Wireless, Siemens Communications. "Hymer is a great example of how location-based services can be deployed. Healthcare, logistics and security are likewise promising industries in which weâ??ve already begun our first joint installations."