Comstor And AeroScout Package Easy To Deploy Wi-Fi-Based Temperature Monitoring Solution For Cisco Worldwide Channels

AeroScout, Inc., the leading provider of Unified Asset Visibility solutions for improving operational efficiency, today announced a packaged wireless temperature monitoring solution that will be distributed by Comstor, a business unit of Westcon Group, Inc., the leading specialty distributor in networking, convergence, security and mobility. Comstor and AeroScout will enable Cisco channel partners and resellers to offer healthcare organizations a packaged Wi-Fi-based Temperature Monitoring solution for improving patient safety and regulatory compliance. The offering leverages clients' existing Wi-Fi networks, which means the deployment requires no hard wires or dedicated sensor network, resulting in the most cost effective and easy to deploy solution on the market.

AeroScout is building on the success of its Temperature Monitoring solution, which is used over Cisco Unified Wireless Networks by hospitals and healthcare organizations throughout the world. The solution is packaged with all of the required components: AeroScout Temperature Sensor Tags and Accessories AeroScout MobileView Software Cisco 3350 Mobility Services Engine Cisco Context-Aware Software License Global Services and Support

"We want to enable Cisco channels around the world to improve patient safety and regulatory compliance for their customers in a simple and cost-efficient manner," said Chuck Pledger, vice president of global channels at AeroScout. "Bringing together Cisco's leadership in unified wireless networks, Comstor's global distribution expertise and AeroScout's leadership in healthcare visibility solutions, we're able to provide Cisco channel partners with a turnkey wireless temperature monitoring solution that can be deployed quickly and at the lowest total cost of ownership."

Pharmaceuticals, vaccines, tissues, food, organs, blood bags and other items require strict temperature ranges for quality patient care and safety. Regulatory organizations, such as The Joint Commission, set stringent standards for daily or more frequent temperature monitoring in hospitals. To ensure temperature levels remain within safe limits and comply with regulations, nursing, lab and pharmacy staff typically perform manual temperature monitoring and logging multiple times each day on hundreds of refrigeration units. This is a labor- and time-intensive process that is prone to errors and diverts clinical staff from their patient care activities.

The temperature monitoring solution utilizes AeroScout's market leading Wi-Fi Tags with on-board temperature sensors. The battery-powered tags are easily and quickly deployed in hospital refrigerators and freezers. The tags send temperature readings in intervals specified by the user (e.g., every five minutes) via the Cisco Unified Wireless Network to the Cisco Mobility Services Engine integrated with AeroScout's MobileView software.

The Cisco Mobility Services Engine is an appliance-based, open Application Programming Interface (API) platform that centralizes and scales a broad set of mobility services, and Cisco's Context-Aware Software allows healthcare organizations to capture detailed temperature information over a Cisco Unified Wireless Network. AeroScout's MobileView software is the front-end application for temperature monitoring which provides a Web-based graphical user interface, automated temperature monitoring and alerting via third-party software or communication devices, as well as the required logging and reporting data for regulatory compliance and analysis of temperature trends.

"This bundled temperature monitoring solution is going to help our customers penetrate the healthcare market more effectively while adding further business value to their current offerings," said Bryan Bayges, director of mobility and unified communications solutions at Westcon Group North America. "The healthcare vertical continues to grow, which when combined with our solutions programs, helps partners increase their opportunities in this space. In addition, the AeroScout packaged solution includes Comstor's professional services – enabling all partners to rapidly implement wireless temperature monitoring and bring immediate benefits to their healthcare clients."

The combined solution was designed specifically for Cisco channel partners and will offer healthcare organizations a number of important benefits, including:

• Improved quality of care and reduced spoilage of refrigerated items through continual monitoring of safe temperature ranges and analysis of logged data to identify trends;
• Automated temperature monitoring and logging, freeing up caregivers' time and improving staff satisfaction;
• Compliance with temperature data collection requirements;
• Rapid deployment by leveraging existing Wi-Fi networks; and
• Protection of customers' investments in their Cisco wireless networks.

AeroScout will be showcasing the Temperature Monitoring solution in booth #703 at the RFID Journal Live! conference held in Orlando on April 27 – 29.

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility and convergence for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and Polycom. Through its Westcon, Comstor and Voda One business practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit www.westcongroup.com.

About AeroScout
AeroScout is the market leader in Unified Asset Visibility solutions. Customers improve operational efficiency using AeroScout products that leverage standard Wi-Fi networks to track and manage the location, condition and status of mobile assets and people. AeroScout's global customer base consists of leading hospital, manufacturing and logistics organizations, including many of the Fortune 500. The company invented the first Wi-Fi-based Active RFID tag, and today is widely recognized as leading the market in number of deployments and tags shipped. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, AeroScout has offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. For more information, please visit http://www.aeroscout.com.

SOURCE: AeroScout