Bluffton-Harrison School District Implements Ekahau RFID Panic Buttons at Three Schools

RESTON, Va., Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ekahau Inc., the high-performance leader in Real-Time Location Systems (RFID-over-Wi-Fi™), today announced the implementation of its wireless panic button solution at three schools including Bluffton High School, Bluffton-Harrison Middle School, and Bluffton-Harrison Elementary School in the Bluffton-Harrison school district in Bluffton, Indiana. Ekahau's location-based school safety alerting software and tag solution helps shrink emergency response times to emergencies by avoiding map look-ups and manual voice dialing.

The successful Ekahau RTLS pilot project included 180 Ekahau B4 badge tags worn by teachers on lanyards. In the event of a medical, disciplinary or lockdown emergency, a teacher pulls down on the badge's patent-pending safety switch to alert those around them and police dispatchers of the emergency, including their location (e.g. "Room5, BHSchool Med Code Red"). Unlike stationary panic buttons attached to walls, Ekahau's RFID-over-Wi-Fi badge is a wireless panic button on-the-go, which enables location detection, while software maintains user anonymity to ensure teacher privacy.

In addition, Ekahau Vision™ is fully customizable to each school's safety communications plan and allows dispatchers to send mass notifications to teachers' badges, displayed as text messages on the badge's LED. The Ekahau system also automatically records and time-stamps incidents and captures resolutions, simplifying incident reporting.   

"We wanted a thoughtful approach to school safety and Ekahau technology delivered. With Ekahau badges and software, teachers can summon help and officials can send mass notifications instantly. By locating teachers quickly and enabling two-way communications between staff, we can respond to everyday emergencies faster than we ever could before," notes Wayne Barker, Superintendent of Schools for Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School District.

"Forward-thinking school districts such as Bluffton-Harrison are adopting Ekahau's location-based safety solution because it not only shrinks emergency response times, but also improves teacher communications to help make schools safer," adds Mark Norris, President and CEO of Ekahau.

About Ekahau Inc.

Ekahau Inc. is the performance leader in providing Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) using RFID-over-Wi-Fi™ technology. Ekahau RTLS includes the Ekahau Vision™ business intelligence software platform and active RFID tags and Wi-Fi badges, which give staff and managers unprecedented visibility into the location, condition and status of assets, people and workflows. Thousands of Fortune 500 companies, hospitals and other facilities rely on Ekahau's patented technology to reveal business intelligence that drives decision-making. Ekahau partners include leading wireless software developers, systems integrators and WLAN providers. Learn more about Business Intelligence Through Location at: www.ekahau.com or on the Ekahau Blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contact:  Paul C. DiPerna     
Ph: +1 781 684 0770
[email protected]

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130315/EkahauLogo ) 

SOURCE Ekahau Inc.