Wireless Pioneer Bridges Gaps and Leverages Synergies between Wi-Fi and RFID Systems with New RFS7000 RF Switch
Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:SBL), The Enterprise Mobility Company(tm), today unveiled the industry's first radio frequency (RF) wireless switch that bridges the gap between Wi-Fi, RFID and other key RF technologies. The RFS7000 RF Switch leverages Symbol's Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture, and is designed to support and consolidate Wi-Fi and emerging RF technologies such as RFID, 802.11n, mesh, Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) and WiMAX. Businesses will now be able to efficiently and cost-effectively deploy and centrally manage wireless voice, data and infrastructure devices throughout the RF spectrum.
"Business needs are driving the convergence of voice, video and data, effectively pushing the new mobile edge from the wired to the wireless touch point, and requiring the network to adapt to the changing needs of new mobile devices and applications," said Anthony Bartolo, vice president and general manager of Symbol's Wireless Infrastructure and RFID Divisions. "The industry's first RF switch will provide the platform to integrate and manage current and future mobile devices and wireless technologies."
The RFS7000 RF Switch provides robust, highly scalable support for enterprise mobility, and is ideal for manufacturing facilities, hospitals, warehouse and supply chain industries, educational and government institutions, and service providers with high-bandwidth requirements and mission-critical applications.
"Located in Bangkok, Thailand, Bumrungrad International is the largest private hospital in Southeast Asia, serving more than one million patients each year. The hospital is recognized for innovative technologies, and most recently that includes Symbol's end-to-end wireless product portfolio, including RFID readers throughout the hospital to wirelessly collect and share information in real-time and enhance the overall patient experience. Our latest plan is to deploy a state of the art wireless infrastructure across the campus to support new applications that serve both patients and medical staff," said Chang Foo, Bumrungrad's director of IT operations. "To fulfill our vision of an end-to-end enterprise application, we selected the new RFS7000 RF Switch for its security, flexibility and highly redundant uptime required to centrally manage our complex hospital network environment. That environment must accommodate both current and future wireless technologies, including RFID, which will be an important innovation for us. Our preference is to manage the applications with one platform, to help ensure that we continue to deliver quality services to our patients and streamline hospital administrative services."
RF Switching Harmonizes Wireless Management
"Like Bumrungrad International, businesses want to move away from 'piecemeal RF technology' installs, and be able to leverage their wireless network investment on an ongoing basis rather than rip and replace hardware to keep up with technology changes," added Bartolo. "Designed to evolve and mature as requirements continue to change, the RFS7000 RF Switch will enable simultaneous, centralized management of RFID readers and Wi-Fi network infrastructure, creating a streamlined connection to business logic and back-end application systems."
The innovative RFS7000 RF Switch leverages a modular Wi-NG-based architecture, running on a Linux operating system that provides separation between infrastructure, services, application and management layers. This engineering conceptual leap takes advantage of multiple hardware platforms and multiple-processor systems to enable scalable, high-performance wireless solutions required by the next generation of enterprise mobility.
The RFS7000 RF Switch is 802.11n-ready, capable of supporting up to 256 802.11a/b/g access ports, and enables a new switch clustering concept, providing redundancy and high-performance scalability for more than 2,000 access points. Symbol's new RF Switch is designed to support value-add, optional add-on modules such as fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) to provide seamless persistent connectivity for dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handheld devices. The RFS7000 Switch also enables Layer 3 roaming, without additional external applications and third-party servers, to handle multi-floor or large-scale campus-wide deployments, allowing mobile users to maintain a persistent connection to high-bandwidth applications as they roam throughout the enterprise.
Integration with Symbol's RF Management software provides monitoring and management of wireless devices throughout the spectrum to help ensure maximum up-time and peak performance of the network system, as well as the ability to plan, evaluate and monitor the network. Symbol's RF Management software suite includes a location engine and Wireless Intrusion Protection System (Wireless IPS) that enables businesses to securely deploy applications, and track assets.
The RFS7000 RF Switch will be available with Symbol On Site System Support services and Service from the Start programs for multi-year coverage.The Symbol RFS7000 RF Switch will be available beginning in the first quarter of 2007 in select regions through Symbol and its PartnerSelect partners.
To learn more about Symbol's wireless solutions, visit www.symbol.com/wireless.
About Symbol Technologies
Symbol Technologies, Inc., The Enterprise Mobility Company(tm), is a recognized worldwide leader in enterprise mobility, delivering products and solutions that capture, move and manage information in real time to and from the point of business activity. Symbol enterprise mobility solutions integrate advanced data capture products, radio frequency identification technology, mobile computing platforms, wireless infrastructure, mobility software and world-class services programs. Symbol enterprise mobility products and solutions are proven to increase workforce productivity, reduce operating costs, drive operational efficiencies and realize competitive advantages for the world's leading companies. More information is available at www.symbol.com.
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