12/16/05 - AeroScout, Inc. announced that it has joined Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., NTT DATA Corporation, its communications Inc., Tokyu Security Co., Ltd., and TRENDY Corporation to provide a Wi-Fi-based location tracking solution for child safety. The system, which utilizes AeroScout's T2 Tag with Call Button, has been developed to reduce accidents and crime involving Japanese schoolchildren.

The new service uses standard Cisco Wi-Fi access points to accurately locate children wearing AeroScout tags during their walk to and from school. Automobile drivers are alerted to the presence of nearby children through a voice service, to reduce accidents in residential city areas. When a child reaches pre-set points along their route, the system will notify their guardian. In addition, a child can call for help by pressing the Call Button on the AeroScout tag, which will immediately alert their guardian.

"The safety of schoolchildren is a critical concern for parents and guardians in Japan and worldwide, and the use of standard Wi-Fi networks for location and alerting provides an innovative solution," said Gabi Daniely, VP, Marketing, AeroScout. "Ensuring security is just one of many high value location-based applications for our Wi-Fi call button tag, which is being used in various industries such as healthcare and manufacturing."

AeroScout's T2 Tag with Call Button combines accurate real-time location with the ability to define events and alerts by pushing an external button on the market-leading AeroScout T2 Tag. This enables safety applications, as well as enterprise uses such as parts replenishment and process flow improvement. For example, in a hospital using T2 tags to locate infusion pumps, a nurse can press the call button to change the pump status to "available", alerting materials management by pager that the pump is ready for pickup. As part of AeroScout's relationship with Cisco Systems, tag call button messages can be "heard" by standard Cisco access points, enabling AeroScout to leverage the Cisco wireless infrastructure for location based solutions in a variety of industries and markets.

The first deployment of the child safety service is implemented in a 50 million square foot area in Aoba-ku, Yokohama City, Japan from this December until March next year, and has already received a favorable response from the Nikkei newspaper and multiple Japanese television networks. NTT Data is supported in the project by AeroScout Japan, a group company of AeroScout, Inc.

AeroScout provides solutions that utilize Wi-Fi wireless networking standards to deliver accurate location-based solutions. The AeroScout system includes real-time location services (RTLS), long range active RFID, telemetry and choke-point visibility all in a single integrated cost-effective infrastructure. AeroScout's standards-based applications locate valuable assets and people in indoor and outdoor environments, enabling customers in numerous industries to drive revenues and cut costs. AeroScout is a privately held company based in San Mateo, CA.