Ekahau and Socket Mobile team to optimise mobile computing performance and device tracking in healthcare and hospitality

Socket Mobile, Inc., provider of mobile productivity solutions, has announced a partnership with Ekahau, Inc., a provider of high performance Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) and Wi-Fi network planning and optimisation tools. Ekahau Site Survey (ESS) software gives Socket customers in healthcare and hospitality the ability to detect, analyse and correct network-related issues, ensuring optimal onsite performance of their SoMo 650 handheld computers, as well as other Wi-Fi devices on their network. Ekahau Real Time Location System (RTLS) provides users, supervisors and IT departments the ability to accurately track deployed Wi-Fi enabled SoMo 650 handheld computers, protecting their investment by increasing efficiency and maximizing device utilisation.

Ekahau Site Survey is a visual and easy-to-use toolkit for deploying and maintaining high performance 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks being used for VoIP, video, location tracking, Web browsing or high-speed data. IT managers and wireless professionals have the ability to correct a number of network problems, including fixing broken or misconfigured access points, finding undetected rogue access points, detecting missing SSIDs and security settings, identifying and minimising signal leakage and discovering coverage holes. In addition, ESS makes in-depth network analysis easy with accurate, color-coded heat maps that identify signal strength, data rate, packet loss roaming, overlap and various other characteristics.

"Different wireless end user devices behave differently because of their varying Wi-Fi chipsets and antenna designs. We're happy to be able to provide Socket customers with tools and professional network services that ensure a successful and optimised deployment," said Bill Spahr, vice president of Professional Services at Ekahau.

"We want SoMo 650 users to experience seamless mobility within their working environment," said Dave Bledsoe, senior product manager, handheld computing products at Socket Mobile. "Healthcare and hospitality providers need to be able to focus 100 per cent on their customers, and to do that it's important that they have a properly configured Wi-Fi network ensuring their infrastructure and devices coexist and operate at their full potential."