Dutch Mental Health Provider Uses Ekahau's Real-Time Location System and Ascom Handsets to Ensure Staff Safety

RESTON, Va., Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ekahau Inc., the high-performance leader in Real-Time Location Systems (RFID-over-Wi-Fi) is helping Bouman Mental Healthcare in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to improve staff safety with location-aware alerting. Hospital employees wear Ekahau's active RFID badges and use Ascom i62 handsets with the Ekahau Positioning Client™ (EPC), to request help from nearby caregivers and make their real-time location known during emergencies. The Ekahau RTLS solution was implemented in eight buildings on campus, by Dutch systems integrator and Ekahau Certified Partner, Zetacom.

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Bouman is one of the most innovative institutions in the Netherlands, providing care to patients with addictive disorders and other psychiatric illnesses. At Bouman, ensuring staff safety is critical. Employees who need assistance simply pull down on the Ekahau badge's patent-pending safety switch and their location appears as a text message displayed on badges worn by other employees and security teams closest to the incident. Ekahau's active RFID badges operate over the existing Aruba WLAN and eliminate the need for dialing and map look-ups. In addition, when an alarm is triggered on an Ascom handset or if a fire evacuation is required, mass notifications are instantly sent to Ekahau badges and Ascom handsets. The system also offers alarm escalation to external parties, which ensures staff safety during evening shifts.

"With Ekahau RTLS, we have a very cost-effective staff alerting solution with two-way communications and room-level location visibility when it matters most," said Huib Moerman, Manager of ICT at Bouman.

"Ekahau is pleased to work with Zetacom, Ascom and Aruba to ensure that Bouman's employees have an instant lifeline to help," adds Mark Norris, President and CEO of Ekahau.

Zetacom also leveraged Ekahau's open API to integrate RTLS alerting with the facility's different alarm systems. Future plans under consideration include expanding Ekahau RTLS to additional buildings.

About Zetacom

Zetacom is a Dutch corporate system integrator. Zetacom offers a wide range of innovative communications solutions and specializes in telephony, medical alarm systems, voice over WLAN, location based services, GSM and unified communications. With a staff of 140, Zetacom operates nationwide from offices in Zoetermeer (head office), Bleiswijk (logistics) and Den Bosch (training centre). Clients include many hospitals and care organizations. For this specific group, Zetacom has developed its Care Concept. 25% of Dutch care and cure organizations rely on solutions and/or services by Zetacom. More information (in Dutch) is available at www.zetacom.nl.

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 Aruba, Ascom, Cisco, HP, IBM, Schneider Electric and other 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]

SOURCE Ekahau Inc.