EPE 4.2 enhances the Ekahau RTLS solution with several new features, including:

- Added Event Management - System integrators can now leverage Ekahau Event application programming interface (API), which introduces a straightforward event-driven programming model and a powerful rules engine to increase application performance and make system integration easier by using intelligent location event filtering in the engine. Developing new RTLS applications is now easier than before, as EPE already includes a set of powerful business rules, including event history.

- Better scalability - Compatibility with 64-bit processor architecture for Windows 2003 increases the performance to support concurrent tracking of 40,000 items, compared to only 10,000 items in the previous version. EPE 4.2 also supports multi-campus location models in which items must be tracked over millions of square feet.

- Faster deployment - Purchase of EPE 4.2 now includes Ekahau Site Survey 4.0 standard edition, which enables users to speed up Wi-Fi deployment in general and make sure the network is ready for RTLS prior to installation. This shortens the installation time and lowers the deployment cost.

In addition to supporting the location tracking capabilities of the Ekahau RTLS, the positioning engine's rich HTTP API enables it to be widely used as a development platform for RTLS application development and ERP integration. "EPE gives businesses worldwide a competitive advantage in building Wi-Fi based asset and people tracking applications," said Tomi Heinonen, product manager, Ekahau. "To improve their performance, our competitors continue to add proprietary hardware to their solutions, which makes the system more costly and complicated. Ekahau's positioning engine upgrade gives users improved performance without adding any complexity to the system, and reinforces our position as the cost-performance leader in the RTLS market."

Performance and total cost of ownership are two key metrics for any RTLS system, and ensuring that both continue to improve with each new product update, is the hallmark of success," said Louis Bianchin, senior RFID analyst and program manager at Natick, Mass.-based Venture Development Corporation. "Any high accuracy Wi-Fi RTLS server that is built on open standards, and includes powerful deployment and development tools, is at an advantage in the RTLS market."

Several Ekahau customers already have deployed EPE 4.2. Helsinki District Hospital in Finland is extending its existing Ekahau system to include tracking of elderly patients within their campus. Ekahau T301A and T301B Wi-Fi tags are being used to ensure patient safety and to notify security and staff if a patient wanders through an exit door or enters a restricted area. "Our main target is to find the best possible technical solution to fulfill the customer's needs," said Anne Koskimaa, product manager for Securitas Systems.."In this case, the new system truly helps elderly patients maintain independence in safety. It also enables the caring staff to free resources, as they do not have to constantly monitor patients movements, but will be alarmed only when necessary."

Keywords: rfid, chipsets, driven programming model, application programming interface, location accuracy, ekahau, location models, system integrators, processor architecture, location event, which enables users, application developers, campus location, installation time, Antennas