NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This year, roughly 37 million higher-frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and asset management tags are expected to ship. But in 2014, such shipments will total almost 150 million, according to a new study released by ABI Research. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2010-2014 is more than 40%.

“The basic function of asset tracking is to answer the question, ‘Where has my stuff been?’” says practice director Michael Liard. “Asset management, based on Real-Time Location (RTLS) technologies, refines that question to ‘Where’s my stuff right now?’ Some new systems even add sensors, allowing the additional question, ‘How are my assets?’ Most industries need answers to these questions, but aerospace and defense, automotive manufacturing, commercial services, and non-CPG/industrial manufacturing are showing the fastest and strongest growth in the use of RFID systems.”

During the recent global recession, businesses have continued to realize that optimizing their Return on Assets (ROA) and eliminating unnecessary asset investment is critical. As a result, the adoption of RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and management solutions continues to grow at an impressive rate across verticals and regions.

A recent ABI Research survey of 80 RFID end-user organizations (excluding those with no interest in RFID, and those using it for item-level retail tracking or people tracking in healthcare) surprisingly revealed that 65% of respondents were piloting, deploying, or had already deployed an RFID-based asset tracking and/or management system. This was a higher percentage than those using RFID in its traditional areas of strength, access control and supply chain management.

Perhaps that should not be surprising after all, considering such systems’ stellar ROI performance, with many break-even points measured in months, not years. “Most people assume the savings will be in ‘soft money’: the ability to reduce employees’ time spent on this kind of work,” notes Liard. “But deployments that have been carried through to completion are delivering surprising returns in ‘hard’ money: lower CAPEX and less inventory ‘shrinkage’.”

In its “RFID and RTLS-enabled Asset Tracking and Management" study ABI Research provides detailed analysis and assessment of specific applications for asset tracking and asset management, focusing on passive UHF, active RFID, and RTLS-enabled solutions.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) -- When you are setting the hotel industry standards for luxury and prestige, you cannot have guests complaining that their mag-stripe keycards have been demagnetized by their cell phones. For hotels with thousands of rooms, door lock reliability is particularly important.

That is why CityCenter in Las Vegas took action to make ARIA at CityCenter one of the first Las Vegas resorts to install an RFID guest room locking system with benefits that go far beyond eliminating keycard complaints. The hotels in the luxury complex are achieving levels of elegance and technological sophistication in guest service with an electronic locks system from KABA that will mark them as innovators well into the 21st Century.

Online locking delivers limitless guest service opportunities
“We singled out RFID technology for our new hotels because it eliminates the demagnetization problem we experienced at other properties,” said John Lowes, executive director of guest technology for MGM Resorts International. “We also recognized RFID’s virtually limitless potential to integrate with ‘smart room’ technologies. We implemented KABA Saflok Messenger lock system because KABA was able to put our hotel door locks system on a network that enables us to continually interact with rooms enhancing our guests’ experience.

The new RFID system at CityCenter’s ARIA Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel and Spa and Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas is part of the most advanced guestroom technology project in the world. All of the nearly 6,000 guest rooms and suites at CityCenter incorporate hotel door locks using RFID technology, which enables guests to unlock the door by flashing their key over a lock reader. Unlike mag-stripe keys, an RFID key cannot be demagnetized by cell phones or other articles in a guest’s pocket or purse and there is no need to move the key in and out of a slot.

When a guest unlocks his or her room at a CityCenter location, the Saflok RFID system communicates with a wireless network of technologies within the room. CityCenter collaborated with Control4 Corporation to develop an unsurpassed level of personalized guest automation. When a guest first opens their door Saflok sends a message via a Zigbee mesh wireless network to the Control4 in-room controller, which activates a ‘welcome theme’ if it is the guest’s first time in the room. Lights come up; curtains automatically part to showcase the spectacular mountain and city views, and the TV displays controls for guests to personalize.

According to Lowes, CityCenter’s implementation of Zigbee wireless technology is unique in the hotel industry. “KABA’s willingness to work with Control4 to integrate with CityCenter’s wireless Zigbee in-room network was integral to the decision to install Saflok. KABA was able to integrate to our single in-room Zigbee infrastructure which created hardware and management efficiencies. The alternative would typically have been for each vendor to install their own infrastructure.”

Guest room network aims to enhance CityCenter’s ‘green’ quotient
CityCenter is one of the largest sustainable developments in the world, with six Gold LEED certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council, and door locking technology plays a part.

Lowes cited other advantages CityCenter realized from its RFID system and in-room network.

• RFID locks are sealed with fewer moving parts which reduces maintenance.
• The battery status of all door locks and in-room devices is automatically monitored for efficient maintenance and virtually zero downtime when room systems are managed on a wireless network.
• Since CityCenter’s guest rooms and RFID door locks communicate over the property’s online network, guests can change rooms without requiring a new key. The front desk can remotely program any door to accept a guest’s existing key. This makes it possible for CityCenter’s properties to pre-key groups and even issue keys to early arrivals which may be activated when their room is ready.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silvertap, a Free Flow Wines brand and industry leader in wines on tap, is taking a leap forward in their production and inventory management technology. Silvertap is working with Mobile BIS to develop RFID technology-based mobile software that tracks and validates every step of the wine keg’s product lifecycle. From the warehouse to bars and restaurants around the world and back, every keg of wine in Silvertap’s pipeline is tracked.

“One of the largest sources of loss for the beer and wine on tap industries is loss of kegs,” Jordan Kivelstadt, Managing Partner of Free Flow Wines explained. “And with the software solution Mobile BIS has built using RFID technology, we’re able to keep accurate track of where our kegs are in the marketplace.” Kivelstadt also anticipates a dramatic increase in labor efficiency, improved sales projections and analysis for supply and demand, shorter turnaround of kegs, and enhanced customer service.

According to Mobile BIS President Michael Macho, Silvertap is at the forefront of the wine industry. “In an industry that has been historically reliant on less streamlined, manual organization methods, Mobile BIS is developing software solutions for Silvertap that dramatically improve the efficiency of their business,” Macho says. Mobile BIS has a number of other clients in the wine industry, including Boutique Wines Direct and Andrew Lane Wines.

The Silvertap software system is another in a series that is designed to work with the Psion Teklogix Workabout Pro handheld computer, running Windows Mobile. The adaptable Workabout Pro is a staple in warehouses around the world, helping users increase efficiency and improve job performance.

“We worked closely with Mobile BIS to combine its software with our durable Workabout Pro to provide Silvertap with an innovative, custom mobile RFID solution,” said Dave Peddemors, vice president, North American sales at Psion Teklogix. “Customers like Silvertap rely on our rugged handheld computers because they are able to withstand the most demanding conditions of the warehouse floor ranging from drastic temperature changes to daily abuse."

Issue #248 | Aug. 26, 2010 | by Bill Collins

There is nothing unusual about scientific advances first being used on college campuses. In fact, that is what brought RFID from a World War II relic technology to modern-day usage.

Ohio University, in Athens, established an Automatic Identification and Capture Lab in 1988. That is where the thoughts of replacing bar codes were first nurtured. By the 90's the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was where the work and testing came to fruition and birthed today's commercial RFID applications.

It seems natural the MIT Media Lab would pioneer the use of RFID with touchscreens, as last week's RFID Street detailed. The impressive, 163,000 sq. ft., glass-enclosed building makes a great showcase for an enhanced, interactive wayfinding and personalized information system.

Chaki Ng, a 36-year-old PhD candidate at Harvard University with a background in eLearning, was part of a team of ten students and faculty who created these systems.

Ng’s background in adaptive learning gives him a unique perspective on how children and adults think and learn. This helps Ng understand the opportunity retailers now have to leverage personalized interactive technology like this.

This may be where we learn how to help shoppers navigate and shop stores in a way that’s easier, more fun and more personalized.

The network encourages visitors to talk and socialize
Visitors RFID-tagged badges allow them to use the large LCD screen together to access, exchange and save information and ideas. This more social user experience is very different from the types of user experiences we typically find today with single-user and one-way signage and kiosk systems.

If the visitor touches the “I’m Interested” button associated with a project, an item icon will be added to their portfolio. These serve as “bookmarks.” Visitors can learn of new projects, collect that information, and later during the visit be reminded to view a related demo in a different area.

If the visitor touches the “More Like This” button, they are shown an “S-curve” graphic driven by the system’s AI engine which – much like Amazon.com or Netflix.com – will recommend other Media Lab projects that may interest them.

Chaki Ng sees retail as the next frontier for “Adaptive Experiences”
“No two learners learn the same way and at the same pace, so you need to personalize and follow their ‘path’ to learning,” Ng said. “This concept of ‘adaptive’ is now very popular and is quite well-understood by people involved in e-learning and e-commerce, but in physical spaces like retail we have not yet developed these adaptive experiences.

“Shoppers go to a store. We look at the merchandise organized in aisles and buy it if we like it. That process of shopping hasn’t really changed for thousands of years,” Ng said. "Essentially, we rely on the retailer to present us what they think we will like.

“In a retail store, my feet act the way that a mouse acts with a computer. I ‘browse’ the store by moving myself from one place to another,” Chaki Ng expanded. “To look for something, oftentimes I look at static signage to sort by category and sometimes I ask a sales associate. So then I point my mouse (my feet) to the target space. . . . I look, I see something, and I move my feet in the direction to where I might want to buy something.

“If I don’t see something, chances are I won’t know it exist somewhere in the store,” Ng continued. “This reminds me a lot of directory-based search engines from the 1990s. It also reminds me that retail physical space is not yet smart enough to help me explore something in a less linear and more spontaneous and fun fashion.”

Conventional wayfinding directories don’t know who you are
To help people navigate retail stores, shopping malls and other large venues, Ng pointed out that the in-store digital navigation tool that is used most often today – electronic directories – do little more than just duplicate the printed building directories they replaced.

“They (electronic directories) are one-size-fits-all,” Ng said. “They install five screens, but the screens all say the same thing and display everything possible. . . The directory doesn’t know who I am, nor help me explore more easily.

“We need to make these screens more personal so that they can display more appropriate information about their respective areas,” Ng believes. To fix this problem, he suggests retailers find ways to emulate the Netflix or Amazon model in the store, where the website recognizes the online shopper and makes recommendations to that shopper based on the pattern of her previous “stops” inside the store.

Ng commented that the interactive on-screen features of The Glass Infrastructure just scratch the surface of this personalized interactivity. When a specific visitor to a public space is recognized electronically, through RFID for example, and when the media network makes recommendations to that visitor, the possibilities are exciting.

As retailers leverage their loyalty-card data and transaction data to provide consumers with opt-in choices, that is when networks like The Glass Infrastructure will take digital screenmedia to the next level at retail.

Bill Collins is principal of DecisionPoint Media Insights, which produces custom research and consulting on digital screenmedia networks that are deployed at retail and out of home.
Collins can be reached at bill@decisionpointmedia.com.

Issue #247 | Aug. 19, 2010 | by Bill Collins

A new RFID-enabled, interactive wayfinding and personalized information system makes the new Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab’s a truly enhanced experience. Large-format LCD touchscreens, appropriately called “The Glass Infrastructure,” are mounted throughout the 163,000 sq. ft. glass-enclosed building.

This crystal palace of science points to the future of screenmedia in retail and public spaces. ( Retail implications, on RFID Street next week) Appropriately enough, MIT was the main incubator of the commercial RFID propagating the planet today.

If this more social and interactive model catches on, we can also expect to see personalized, social, screenmedia systems being deployed on university campuses, shopping malls, convention centers and other environments that serve the public.

The new $90 million building at the MIT Cambridge campus is sheathed in metal screening and glass which allows about half of the ambient outdoor sunlight to reach the interior. From the outside “you can look all the way through it from one end to the other,” according to Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell; a “classic marriage of form and content.”

In the Globe’s review, Media Lab Director Frank Moss said, “Glass forces collaboration. We’ll put very different groups near one another [in the new building]. And we’ll have video screens everywhere, too, so people can tune in on what others are doing.’’


Enter The Glass Infrastructure screenmedia network
Visitors can explore (and often play with) dozens of live project demos throughout the MIT Media Lab and discuss them with the researchers. It can be overwhelming to organize and remember what you have seen.

A key goal is to provide an augmented experience for Lab exploration. Visitors can access project information and multimedia on demand. The Glass Infrastructure also enables visitors to remember what they saw and recommends what projects they might want to see next.

The Glass Infrastructure screenmedia network is comprised of:

• Thirty 40-inch, high-definition, touchscreen-enabled LCD flat screens donated by Samsung
• RFID readers donated by ThingMagic
• Mac Mini controllers
• Front- and back-end software developed by the project team to control the screen user interface, content and status; manages the identification and location of RFID/users; manages the Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine and APIs for accessing lab projects; and provides real-time analytics.
• RFID embedded badges are worn by visitors. Lab students and staff have RFID-chipped smart cards which can be carried in wallets and purses.

The Glass Infrastructure is all about personalized interactivity

• Most of these large LCD touchscreens can be found near the main entrances of the seven large lab spaces, others near elevators or lobbies. Each has an RFID reader attached.

• When visitors come within 5-10 feet of the screen, the reader recognizes them. Each visitor’s photo-icon pops up at the bottom of the flat screen, where photo-icons for all the other visitors currently being identified by the network are also shown.

• A visitor can choose to “log in” by simply touching his/her own icon. A “portfolio” area for that visitor will pop up at the bottom of the screen. The person’s name, photo and affiliation are displayed, along with a placeholder offering that visitor’s items of interests.

• Each touchscreen has a directory-like explorer interface that showcases the research projects located nearby. Visitors can browse by group and by project, and then touch the “Launch” button to view multimedia and other presentation material on Media Lab projects that interest them. By sorting the projects by proximity, more relevant projects are displayed so that the visitors will be incentivized to visit different screens and explore other projects.

• Projects can be collected in their portfolio; items of interest can be bookmarked; information can be collected in advance of the next visit; a "More Like This" button is offered for suggestions.

The network encourages visitors to talk and socialize
More than one visitor can log in at the same screen. All of the portfolios of those visitors appear on the screen at the same time. The group is thus encouraged to see who has collected which items and to engage in fruitful group discussions. In this “social/collaborative mode,” people can drag and exchange items among their portfolios and can explore projects together.

The Glass Infrastructure also includes the “Leader board,” a real-time “mash-up” application that is deployed on two large screens (more than 70”) to help people visualize what’s happening inside the building.

If a visitor to the MIT Media Lab wants to review her Glass Infrastructure experience after leaving, she can log on to a website to review the information she collected during her visit. The website also can remind her who she met at the Media Lab, and help her to contact those people via E-mail: forgotten business cards a problem of the past.

Though visitors who carry RFID badges enjoy a richer media experience from the Glass Infrastructure, the screenmedia system still enables casual visitors of the MIT Media Lab to interact with the screens to explore projects. These RFID-less visitors simply won’t have access to a personal portfolio for information organization and transfer to their own laptop.

Bill Collins is principal of DecisionPoint Media Insights, which produces custom research and consulting on digital screenmedia networks that are deployed at retail and out of home.
Collins can be reached at bill@decisionpointmedia.com.

Total Terminal International Algeciras (TTI Algeciras), the container terminal operator of Hanjin in Southern Spain, has gone live with an innovative new Real Time Locating System from Identec Solutions, for the tracking and control of containers.

Lustenau (AT), August 13, 2010 – TTI Algeciras is the first semi-automatic terminal in the Mediterranean area and was built with the intention of handling the latest as well as the future requirements of container vessels. Identec Solutions, in partnership with Hi-Tech Solutions Europe (HTS-E), deployed active RFID and GPS based technologies for a quay crane RTLS and automated transfer point management system (TPMS) in the automated storage areas.

The terminal, owned and built by the South Korean Hanjin Group and located at the Port of Algeciras on the Strait of Gibraltar, represents the largest single investment ever made by a South Korean company in Spain. Operational for two months prior to the formal opening ceremonies on July 15th 2010, TTI Algeciras had already reached 47 percent of its operational status.

“TTI Algeciras was designed to immediately accommodate a maximum of 1.6 million TEU’s progressively with the commencement of operations,” states Oscar Pernia, Processes Systems and Innovation Team Leader, TTI Algeciras. “Deploying a Real Time Locating System that featured both active RFID and GPS technologies was essential for our terminal’s immediate and long-term objectives. Identec Solutions and Hi-Tech Solutions Europe, were able to provide a solution that met our requirements.”

"This implementation of Identec Solutions RTLS technology in combination with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) will change the way container and intermodal terminals manage their waterside processes," states Gerhard Schedler, CEO, Identec Solutions. "We developed this RTLS solution specifically for terminal tractor and straddle operations at ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, an area where GPS tracking is particularly problematic."

The RTLS and TPMS deployment began in November 2009 and went live in May 2010.
This announcement represents Identec Solutions' commitment to delivering innovative solutions for the port, marine and intermodal markets. In addition to quay crane RTLS and TPM, Identec Solutions, offers process automation solutions for gate access, automated job promotion and reefer monitoring for marine and intermodal terminals.

How it works:
Leveraged from Identec Solutions award-winning SensorSMART Technology Platform, the RTLS solution combines intelligent active RFID tags along with an advanced RTLS positioning and visibility system that determines the exact location of shuttle vehicles under eight ship to shore (STS) cranes. As shuttles discharge or pick-up containers under the STS cranes, the shuttle ID and exact position are determined by RTLS then matched to the container ID captured by the Hi-Tech OCR system mounted on the STS cranes. Once the shuttle leaves the crane area, tracking of the equipment seamlessly transitions to Differential GPS allowing the containers to be managed and monitored more effectively. Based on the ISO 24730-5 standard, this solution ensures total traceability, increases STS productivity and creates a safer work environment.

The RFID based Transfer Point Management System is an innovative new application of Identec Solutions’ standard RFID technology. TTI Algeciras uses 32 automated Rail Mounted Gantries (RMG) to store and retrieve containers. At both the waterside and landside transfer points, tags on the base of the shuttle vehicles are used to confirm the absolute position of shuttles as they enter the transfer point zones. This information is sent to the RMG control system to ensure the safety of operators during hand-offs, and to provide 100% traceability in container transitions.

Issue #246 | Aug 12, 2010 | by Andy Kowl

The announcement by Impinj last month that they are introducing a new Indy R500 chip had more to it than meets the eye.

One tip off this is not the usual market announcement is the product number itself. Usually bigger everything is the norm in product releases.

Dropping your product's version number backwards—not so much.

When Impinj improved the R1000 reader-chip they purchased from Intel nearly four years ago, they called it the R2000, as you would expect. Now we have the R500. The lower number alone makes a strong statement. This is clearly a case where the manufacturer believes less is more. And it may well be.

Way back in RFID Street #97, Erik Wood called Intel's launch of the market's first RFID reader chip a game changer.

As Intel introduced the reader chip in the spring of 2007, Erik wrote having a "Gen 2 reader in a chip could become the single biggest market driver yet. We may never have been able to fully realize the promise of Gen 2 RFID without these new reader chips.

"This promises to be the path to a whole new paradigm shift in applications for Gen 2 technology," he concluded The chip's success proved his point. In fact, you will see below he predicted the eventual appearance of a chip like the new R500 on the market.

Lower and less
The R500 is intended to serve a specific market. This reader-ship offers a lower range which reads less tags per second. That reflects a move from serving early adopters to offering the now-entrenched marketplace the ability to fine-tune Gen 2 RFID's use for more refined applications.

Sharing a common architecture with all members of the Indy reader chip product line, the R500 is drop-in compatible with the high performance Indy R2000. The common architecture reduces design and implementation costs for OEMs.

The reason for the R500 more restricted capability is to serve such uses as empowering lower end handhelds, closer in size to a cell phone of a TV remote. By reducing the range up to about 4m, the power can even be "dialed down" to not energize passive tags a certain distance from the reader. This makes it ideal for certain access control situations.

For example, a growing area in UHF RFID usage is file tracking. The types of stories we have run mostly involve tracking important files through environments like a law office. I remember presenting a webinar on this with Scot Stelter, who is now Impinj senior director of product marketing.

With the R500, you can now add such usage "as a paralegal checking folders in and out of the office library," according to Scot.

The most important differential here is the potential this toned-down chip has for embedded RFID applications. We have long predicted here on Switchboard that embedded will, in the long run, be the most pervasive use of RFID of all. This serves that market, by making the cost come down as well.

Will an old Matrics what-if come true?
In that original column, the aforementioned Erik Wood told this story:

Brainstorming (this) back then with the Matrics founders, we came up with a “what if” market application that would be truly, totally disruptive – nothing to do with the original inventory control question, really.

What if there was a reader, small enough and cheap enough to fit in a PC disk drive and DVD players, which would be able to validate the authenticity of the disk and the software or data on board?

Got it? You have the reader chip built within, say, the DVD reader. Then each time you insert a DVD containing a built-in, low cost passive tag, if it were not properly identified with the right encryption technology it would not play.

Could this end the era of piracy?
At current levels (2007), estimates of lost music sales on CD’s and movies on easily replicated DVD’s, tops $1.6 billion in lost sales annually. This does not include internet downloads. Put on those green eye shades and figure out what the disc sales lost to counterfeiting cost directly, and in the degradation of the distribution network. How many tens of millions of dollars, from the lost billions, would have kept Tower Records in business?

Okay, Marketplace, there you have a challenge. RFID embedded into products will undoubtedly be a prime driver. Regardless of what chips you use, let's see more valuable, non-gimmicky RFID apps in the consumer world.

King of Prussia, PA — TAGSYS and RFIP Ltd. announced they have developed a new and innovative RFID-based weapons tracking solution to secure armaments for military, law enforcement and other agencies. The solution is currently being piloted with a major UK police force.

Named the Intelligent Drawer Armory System (iDAS), the solution utilizes embedded RFID technology to automatically record the issue and return of weapons to a secure storage locker. The solution not only automates inefficient manual weapons issuing processes, but also provides a complete service history for each weapon, generates audit reports for supervisors, prevents issue of weapons to un-authorized officers and improves weapon security.

In the current installations, the police department is keeping track of its Tasers using RFID-equipped storage cabinets. Each Taser is tagged with a high frequency TAGSYS Ario 370-SDM (Small Disc Module) RFID tag, and monitored using TAGSYS Medio P032 OEM RFID readers and antennas mounted in the cabinet.

"The TAGSYS Ario tags are very small, making them easy to apply to the Tasers without interference with the functionality of the weapon, but they also provide a reliable read range," said David Armstrong, director at RFIP Ltd. "The tags are very rugged, which is important given the environments these weapons are typically used in."

Previously, Tasers were issued by armories at the larger police stations in the UK. However, the devices are now being deployed at smaller precinct locations. As a result, local police stations need a compact and secure method of storing and issuing Tasers that is also cost effective.

When an officer needs a Taser, he presents his identification card to a card reader on the cabinet. At this stage, the system establishes if the officer is authorized to carry Tasers. Upon authorisation, a touch screen attached to the system guides the officer through a series of legal and procedural notices and the Taser is then electronically signed for before the system signals one of the drawers to open. The authenticated officer then removes the Taser, and the weapon is automatically allocated to him within the asset management application from JML Software Solutions Ltd., a UK-based company that specializes in asset tracking solutions for law enforcement.

The solution has provided the department with a complete pedigree for each weapon, allowing supervisors to track which officers have used which Tasers. This provides the department with a robust audit trail for any investigation regarding the use of a Taser, or the relevant officer’s training record.

"The RFID solution has improved the department's track-and-trace capabilities," Armstrong said. "In the event that the department would need to review the history of any device or officer, authorities can access a complete record of who had access to the weapon and any relevant service or training information."

RFIP and JML Software Solutions have developed additional concept models for hand gun and machine gun tracking for both law enforcement and military applications. This project seals the partnership between TAGSYS, RFIP and JML and leads the way to more joint projects in the future.

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ClearCount Medical Solutions and Medline Industries, Inc. today announced that its newest customer, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system will help prevent retained surgical sponge incidents with the use of the SmartSponge System. The SmartSponge System is part of ClearCount’s RFID-based platform that uniquely identifies each sponge so that they can be easily counted and detected. Medline is the exclusive distributor for the SmartWand-DTX and the SmartSponge System, the only FDA-cleared systems using RFID to both count and locate surgical sponges.

The VA Pittsburgh hospital has implemented SmartSponge Systems into its full suite of operating rooms. The national Veterans Health system, which includes 155 medical centers and 842 outpatient clinics, is the largest health care system in the US, with more than 5 million of the 25 million veterans alive today receiving its services.

“The SmartSponge System provides a safety net for human error. Despite the level of experience of staff, individuals are bound to make mistakes. Distractions during counting and the mundane simplicity of 'counting' make the inevitability of losing track of a sponge a constant reality. The use of a system that virtually eliminates retained sponge incidents allows us to meet our ethical obligation to our patients,” said William Stevens, RN, BSN, CNOR Nurse Manager OR/PACU Surgery Specialty Service Line, VA Pittsburgh.

“We are pleased to derive the benefits of such a comprehensive solution for the prevention of retained surgical sponges,” said Mark A. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. Chief Surgeon and Medical Director of the Surgery Specialty Service Line, VA Pittsburgh. “We use the SmartSponge System to improve patient safety in our ORs with the goal of also improving efficiency. The uniqueness of this RFID platform is its integration of both counting and detection strategies. It is capable of growing with our patient safety initiatives, and we look forward to the future benefits it will provide.”

Despite designation as a “never event,” retained items are estimated to occur in one of every 1,000 to 1,500 abdominal surgical procedures, which can lead to hospital inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, serious infections and even death. Hospital infections add an estimated $30.5 billion to the nation's hospital costs each year. In one study using a retrospective review of medical malpractice claims data from a statewide insurer in Massachusetts, sponge counts had been falsely correct in 76 percent of non-vaginal surgical cases involving retained sponges. Falsely correct sponge counts were attributed to team fatigue, difficult or long operations, sponges “sticking together,” shift changes or procedures with a large number of sponges.

WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - ProxFire Detection System, an integrated system using RFID technology to detect forest fires in real time, proved successful in a controlled burn test in Castaic, Calif. Introduced by ProximaRF, ProxFire Detection System supports early and rapid response protocols, thereby greatly reducing the potential for damage to the environment and property, loss of wildlife and its habitat, and loss of human life.

The July 20 test was conducted in partnership by the U.S. Forest Service, San Dimas Technology Development Center, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Four experiments were conducted during the live burn including dozer burnover, structure protection wrap, vehicle tracking, and early detection systems.

The objective of the early detection systems experiment was to evaluate the effectiveness of ProximaRF's ProxFire Detection System (PFDS) sensors. The PFDS operates on a sensory-gateway network. Heat sensitive, lightweight sensors carrying RFID technology comprise the first stage of PFDS. When heat from a developing fire energizes the sensor, it transmits an alarm signal with a unique code to the PFDS wireless gateway in range of the signal, which relays the alarm to a central location such as an operations center for forest fire response and management. ProximaRF's advanced technology allows for the PFDS sensor to withstand significant heat without producing a false alarm while reliably transmitting alarm signals when exposed to real fire conditions.

"We are enormously pleased by the performance of our system during this test. The first sensor went off within four minutes of fire ignition, relaying information that would have made a critical difference in terms of the rapidity of response," said Brent Chapel, CEO of ProximaRF. "The cost of suppressing wildfires is skyrocketing. We know that early detection and precise localization of wildfires can significantly reduce suppression costs. Our calculations suggest that, based on current costs, our system, properly configured, would yield an ROI of 69-1 for every acre saved from fire damage. Obviously the ROI would be significantly greater for higher value areas."

The early detection test results can be observed at www.rfidalaska.com ( this site is best viewed in Internet Explorer)

ProximaRF has accepted invitations to participate in subsequent pilot projects for other entities including county and private forest owners, based on the successful outcome of the Castaic, Calif. test burn.

Spec Performance, a leading Quebec swimming specialty shop and sports events organizer, has announced that after 3 successful pilot runs in June it will now use its newly developed RFID timekeeping system at all its sporting events, including triathlons and swim races.

After years of searching for an accurate and affordable timekeeping solution, Simon Faucher, president of Spec Performance, decided to mandate the Microsoft award-winning TESTeam at Montreal’s Academia RFID Centre of Excellence to design, develop and test a new UHF RFID solution to answer the specific needs and environmental challenges associated with triathlons.

Existing systems using RF antenna-equipped floor-mats didn’t easily lend themselves to swimming and bicycling events and therefore UHF RFID snap-pipe portals were built to create read points at transition areas and the finish line. Waterproof UHF wristbands and bib tags were tested and selected based on size, placement and performance to offer the most accurate read rates.

“This was exactly what I envisioned when I asked the TESTeam six months ago to evaluate the feasibility of this timing solution,” said Faucher. “We worked together to make sure the system would meet the exact criteria of the specific events I organize and I can’t say enough about the experience of creating a new application with existing components without feeling the pressure of working with pre-determined hardware vendors.”

“Every time we start a project, we make sure to clearly define the objectives and then work with a client to guide them step by step through to the process of designing, developing and testing a new solution while remaining vendor-neutral,” added Anthony Palermo, Director at Academia RFID, “this way we can deliver intelligent and application-specific solutions to our clients’ industry-focused business problems.”

The Spec Performance system manages both events and participants; including timing, ranking and simultaneous multi-event reporting and is now being used at events across Quebec.