SARATOGA, California, August 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy Hospital, a leading healthcare facility in Miami, has deployed Ekahau Inc.'s Real Time Location System (RTLS), a wireless tracking solution that enables hospital staff to immediately find the whereabouts of mission critical equipment and other mobile assets.

Ekahau RTLS will allow Mercy Hospital to continue to improve the patient experience by streamlining the staff's workflow and containing costs through accurate tracking of equipment. Unlike other tracking solutions, the Ekahau system integrates seamlessly with any existing Wi-Fi network and does not require a lengthy, expensive build out of proprietary tracking infrastructure. Ekahau RTLS can be used to locate Wi-Fi enabled laptops and personal digital assistants, as well as small Wi-Fi radio tags worn by employees and patients, or attached to equipment and other valuable assets. The Ekahau T201 tags also can be easily connected to a variety of hospital assets to measure actual utilization of those assets, thereby allowing Mercy staff to optimize their capital purchase programs while enhancing the patient care experience.

"As we strive to continually improve patient care, the ability to quickly find mission critical equipment and match that with the location of patients is paramount," said Fernando Martinez, CIO at Mercy Hospital. "Ekahau brings us the tools we can rely on to continue providing excellent service to the community."

With Ekahau RTLS in place, Mercy Hospital will improve patient care and staff productivity, as nurses spend less time trying to find equipment. Additionally, the hospital expects Ekahau RTLS to help prevent asset losses because the solution can track the current and historical locations of equipment.

Mercy Hospital, working with Ekahau and Ekahau's VAR partner SAFCO Systems Inc., has installed Ekahau RTLS across its 42.5-acre campus. The first phase of deployment will consist of the Ekahau system tracking the location and movement of certain Wi-Fi-enabled patient care assets and laptop computers, and Mercy's Computer on Wheels (COWs), which will be fitted with the T201 tags. In the second phase, additional Ekahau Wi-Fi tags will be deployed, allowing Mercy to track other equipment, such as infusion pumps, beds, ventilators and other patient care assets. The Ekahau tags will give Mercy Hospital not only visibility into the location of these assets but also how and when they are being used, allowing the hospital to better understand and manage it's capital and operational expenses.

"Mercy Hospital is a great example of a forward-thinking, patient-centric healthcare facility. They have been an early adopter of technologies, such as a campus-wide Wi-Fi network that powers several applications, such as Point of Care systems and prescription management," said Tuomo Rutanen, Ekahau's vice president of Business Development. "Ekahau RTLS not only expands the use of Mercy Hospital's existing wireless investment by adding real-time location tracking, but gives hospital administrators a way to analyze asset utilization and make patient care more efficient for the staff."

"RTLS is quickly becoming a de facto standard for asset, staff and patient management in healthcare settings," said Janette R. Gonzalez, director at SAFCO Systems. "As Mercy Hospital's use of Ekahau's system shows, RTLS is highly adaptable for multiple uses in hospitals, and the quick implementation over existing Wi-Fi networks makes the return on investment quite attractive."

Ekahau RTLS solutions are currently installed and operational in dozens of hospitals around the world, including Palmetto Health in Richland, S.C., and the Chataigneraie Clinic in France. The applications being used vary as greatly as the types of healthcare facilities in which they're deployed. Ekahau RTLS is tracking assets to improve utilization; tracking patients in order to reduce wait times for critical care; providing wandering patients a means to communicate with caregivers in case of emergency; and maintaining worker safety via buttons that trigger alarms;

About Ekahau Inc.

Ekahau Inc. is the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi based RTLS solutions. Ekahau's customers, including several Fortune 500 companies worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau partners include wireless software developers, leading system integrators, and international OEM partners, who develop and market wireless enterprise applications. Ekahau is a U.S. based corporation, with offices in Saratoga, CA; Reston, VA; Helsinki, Finland and Hong Kong, China. For more information about Ekahau, please visit at http://www.ekahau.com/.

About Mercy Hospital

Mercy Hospital, a recipient of the prestigious Magnet(TM) award for nursing excellence, is Miami-Dade's only Catholic Hospital. Established in 1950, it is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph and a member of Catholic Health East. A 483-bed acute care hospital, staffed by over 900 physicians representing 28 medical specialties, its Centers of Excellence include: The Heart Center at Mercy Hospital, the Miami Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital, the Orthopaedic Institute at Mercy Hospital, and the Minimally Invasive Surgical Institute at Mercy Hospital. Mercy Hospital is located at 3663 S. Miami Avenue, Miami, FL. For more information, please visit http://www.mercymiami.org/.

About Safco Systems Inc.

Founded in 1993, SAFCO SYSTEMS provides solutions to the business community that address the diverse requirements corporations encounter on a day-to-day basis. The company offers business solutions in areas such as hardware and software selection, leasing and financial services, office interior design/layout, personnel/staffing, pre- and post-sale support of system design and personalized training. For more information, please visit http://www.safcousa.com/

(c) Copyright 2006, Ekahau, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CONTACT: U.S. Media Contact: Juliet Travis, Rocket Science PR, for
Ekahau, +1-415-464-8110 x 5, juliet@rocketscience.com