omniture

Symbol Technologies Unveils the Industry's First RF Switch to Drive the Next Generation of Enterprise Mobility

Symbol Technologies, Inc.
2006-11-01 19:48 1601

Wireless Pioneer Bridges Gaps and Leverages Synergies between Wi-Fi and RFID

Systems with New RFS7000 RF Switch

CHICAGO, Nov. 1 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- MOBILE BUSINESS EXPO 2006 (Booth

#205) -- 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.

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061101/NYW103 )

(Logo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041029/SYMBOLOGO )

"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

http://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 http://www.symbol.com .

Source: Symbol Technologies, Inc.
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