Revolutionary Enterprise Dot Technology for Wireless Tracking and Sensing

Axcess International Inc. is introducing a new wireless tracking and sensing technology called "The Enterprise Dot," according to a company statement. Based on a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design, the patents-pending technology yields the world's lowest cost and smallest multifunctional wireless sub-micro device for delivering visibility oriented data about the assets operating in and around the enterprise.

Dot facilitates the capture, processing and delivery of previously unavailable real time information for dramatic improvements in supply chain visibility, mobile asset management, physical asset security and access control, and industrial condition monitoring. The low cost and flexibility to use existing supply chain infrastructure results in a very low total cost of ownership, yielding short term ROIs for customers. Industry analyst Forrester Research forecasts the RFID and sensor related markets to grow to $11.6 billion by 2012.

The first product Axcess will deliver using the new technology will be a software definable, battery-powered Dot-OEM module for product manufacturers, small enough to be embedded into a variety of things such as computers, test equipment, medical equipment, credential cards, pallets, and cartons. The module, about the size of a quarter is priced at less than $5 per unit and is being sold now for delivery in 2007.

"We took our years of experience in analyzing the market needs being addressed by passive RFID, active RFID/RTLS, and wireless sensor products and created a simple, powerful, flexible, and inexpensive world class one-of-a- kind platform," stated Allan Griebenow, president and CEO of Axcess. "Two years ago we began this dramatic step to bring forth the promise of an Internet of Things. The Dot(TM) opens up a new world of real-time data collection and management capabilities in the enterprise."

Current RFID, RTLS, and wireless sensing technologies face prominent barriers that prevent them from addressing the majority of today's application needs. These barriers include: cost, interoperability, size, and reliability. While existing wireless tags and sensing nodes meet certain needs, according to the company, the Enterprise Dot has been developed to surpass these barriers and solve the reliability issues of passive RFID, the connectivity problems of sensors, provide interoperability between standards, enable a store and forward capability for monitored data, and reduce the cost and tag size of active RFID/RTLS, while opening up dramatic new applications.

The Dot technology incorporates a powered software definable wireless transceiver which is compatible with multiple global regulations including the RFID EPC Class I, Gen II standard and is expected to make supply chain tagging more reliable while opening up new applications in sensing and security.

Memory and sensor inputs enable the Dot to be tailored to each specific data capture need. Devices built on the Dot platform will enable widespread and reliable automatic identification, locating, tracking, protecting and monitoring of personnel, physical assets, and vehicles. Bringing together the new functions of the Dot and building on the current Axcess wireless infrastructure for enterprise management creates an open architecture for multiple sources of data to be acquired to deliver previously inaccessible business intelligence.

"The Enterprise Dot technology fits the market demand for a single multipurpose tag that provides data on the asset in question, location tracking, protection, sensor logging, and alerting combined with a flexible interface tailored to the need," said Dr. Ben Zoghi, Professor and Director of RFID/Sensor Convergence Lab at Texas A&M University.