Tech Watch: AeroScout wins deal with big US hospital

NY-Presbyterian Hospital chose AeroScout's solution following a comprehensive review of the vendors and technologies in the asset tracking markets.

By MATTHEW KRIEGER
Tech Watch 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Tech Watch 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
ISRAELI TELECOMMUNICATIONS companies - wired and wireless - are known throughout the world for their innovative products and ground-breaking technology. Over the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of activity coming out of these companies. Rehovot-based AeroScout Inc., the leading provider of Unified Asset Visibility solutions, announced last week that New York-Presbyterian Hospital, one of the US's top hospitals, has launched AeroScout's solution to track thousands of infusion pumps and other high-value equipment across four of its campuses in New York City. New York-Presbyterian Hospital chose AeroScout's solution following a comprehensive review of the vendors and technologies in the asset tracking, real-time location (RTLS) and RFID markets. The hospital has deployed more than 3,000 tracked assets so far, and plans to expand to 10,000. The solution uses AeroScout's Wi-Fi-based Active RFID tags to track the location and maintenance status of Sigma infusion pumps and other assets over the hospital's Cisco Wi-Fi network. The tags are mounted on the pumps with a custom bracket created by AeroScout and Sigma. As they move throughout the hospital, they are tracked in real time. When a tag requires cleaning or maintenance, nurses and other staff can press a call button on the tag to send a request to the biomedical engineering department. ON THE other side of the globe, ECtel Ltd., a leading provider of Integrated Revenue Management (IRM) solutions, announced late last month that Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest cellphone operator in Russia and the CIS region, servicing more than 79 million subscribers, has selected ECtel's IRM solution for its operations in Ukraine. This first-time order from MTS, valued at several million US dollars, was awarded to ECtel following a competitive tender. Rosh Ha'ayin-based ECtel was chosen to deploy both its fraud-management FraudView and revenue-assurance RAP solutions. In addition, ECtel will be deploying SS7 probes as part of the project to provide MTS with greater network-monitoring capabilities. ECtel won the tender in cooperation with its long-term channel partner that represents ECtel in the region - ECI Telecom, a global provider of networking infrastructure equipment and supplier of SDH, DWDM and NGN solutions. MTS has also joined forces with another Israeli company, Ra'anana-based AxisMobile PLC, a hi-tech specialist in consumer-mobile e-mail. The two companies announced that MTS has begun to offer the AxisMobile mobile e-mail solution to its subscriber base. The solution enables MTS to offer a true push e-mail solution to its subscribers. Under the terms of the deal, MTS has acquired initial capacity for several hundred thousand customers, with expanded deployment expected in the near future. KEEPING THE focus on the former Soviet Union, PeerBox by Petah Tikva-based Nareos, a popular mobile social-networking service, announced last month it has expanded to the Ukraine through a deal with leading wireless application service provider, Polygon Integration Ukraine Ltd., the owner of the popular HitOn and HitBox brands. The agreement enables Polygon's hundreds of thousands of users in the Ukraine access to the large catalogue of music, ring tones, videos and other licensed and user-generated content available on PeerBox Mobile. Through the PeerBox-Polygon partnership, Ukrainian cellphone users will be able to legally access all music and video content that is available on the global mobile-content platform PeerBox. Users will also be able to watch, upload and share their own pictures and videos through PeerBox, to see other users' content and to even earn money using the joint PeerBox-Polygon service. Polygon possesses distribution rights for all major music content in the country, including both international and domestic music, offering a legal solution that enables PeerBox users to have unlimited access to the music files on its platform. This deal comes on the heels of the recently announced partnership between PeerBox and Metacafe, the world's leading on-line entertainment site. EIM Telecom, an international communications company headquartered in Petah Tikva and specializing in network-based telephony solutions, announced last month the release of Skuku, the first soft-phone roaming solution independent of and unrelated to any cellular operator. This unique solution combines GSM technology with the Internet, and enables any user with an Internet connection to make VoIP and IM calls via a PC. Skuku stick is a USB device that turns a PC into a cellphone once a SIM-card is inserted. It allows users to pay only the local airtime charges when making and receiving calls from their home country. Users keep their own personal phone numbers and enjoys all the other features of their cellphone, including contact lists and text messaging. Skuku stick also enables receiving and making of international calls from anywhere in the world at low IP tariffs, while inter-network calls are free. MOVING OVER to cable-focused companies, BigBand Networks, Inc., the pioneer and deployment leader in switched digital video (SDV), is in the process of deploying across three Motorola cable systems with two different cable operators that collectively pass more than 1 million households. BigBand is currently deploying its fifth-generation SDV solution, is deploying SDV across four electronic programming guide environments and has achieved significantly more commercial SDV deployments than any other vendor. BigBand Networks, Inc., headquartered in Tel Aviv, provides broadband service providers with innovative network solutions designed to make it easier to move, manage and monetize video. These solutions are based on BigBand's video-networking platforms, which are built to enable efficient and reliable delivery across a wide range of services, including digital TV, high-definition TV, addressable advertising, video-on-demand and interactive TV.