CDW And Parco Offer First Ultra-Wideband RFID Systems for Health Care, Safety and Emergency Management Organizations.VERNON HILLS, Ill. & PORTLAND, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine, with a 2004 population of 63,882. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. Tourists are drawn to Portland's historic Old Port district along Portland Harbor, which is at the mouth of the Fore River and part -- Platform Creates Indoor Positioning Systems for Reducing Medical and Medication Errors, Increasing Patient Safety and Improving Overall Resource Management CDW CDW - data warehouse Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :CDWC CDWC Computer Discount Warehouse (stock symbol) ), a FORTUNE 500 provider of name-brand technology products and services to businesses, government and education institutions today announced it has signed an agreement with Parco Merged Media Corporation to market Parco Wireless, the first FCC-approved ultra-wideband radio frequency identification See RFID. (RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) A data collection technology that uses electronic tags for storing data. The tag, also known as an "electronic label," "transponder" or "code plate," is made up of an RFID chip attached to an antenna. ) solution created for health care, safety and emergency management organizations. CDW is authorized to sell Parco Wireless exclusively to those types of organizations along with related products that support it, such as video monitors and bandwidth. "Hospitals, especially emergency rooms, are process driven," says Andy Gorski, manager of CDW's health care team. "Our customers have been asking for a better way to manage those processes. We're responding to their needs by providing Parco Wireless because we believe it can help them to improve quality control on medical and safety procedures as well as to strengthen inventory management capabilities." "This announcement is an extension of CDW's commitment to serving health care organizations," Gorski adds. "We have created a dedicated health care sales team to develop a deep understanding of customers' needs. Based on what we have learned, we are now providing a new category of wireless solution to address specific business needs of our customers." What is Parco Wireless? Adapted from military-grade equipment, Parco Wireless is a high-speed platform for developing precision indoor positioning systems. A Parco receiver up to 200 meters away can pinpoint the location of tagged medical equipment within three inches, enabling improved location accuracy. Systems that locate assets within distances of more than a foot can sometimes provide imprecise results because an object could be on the other side of a wall, for example. Parco Wireless can also monitor proximity and time. It can tell how long a doctor has been physically near a particular patient or whether a device requiring decontamination decontamination /de·con·tam·i·na·tion/ (de?kon-tam-i-na´shun) the freeing of a person or object of some contaminating substance, e.g., war gas, radioactive material, etc. de·con·tam·i·na·tion n. has been sent to the proper cleaning area for processing. Users program the system to produce reports and alerts when predefined events take place. For example, if an infant is removed from the newborn nursery at an unauthorized time, the system could be programmed to alert the nursing staff and security automatically. The system can also deter theft by instantly alerting authorities when equipment is removed from authorized areas. "We think CDW will be an ideal partner in serving the needs of health care institutions," says Scott Cohen, Parco CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "The company has an impressive customer service track record and has the people and resources to make it easy for customers to acquire our technology." "Ultra-wideband technology is ushering in a new era of wireless connectivity with unlimited applications," Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. adds. "It provides numerous benefits over other technologies such as Wi-Fi and infrared, including better bandwidth, security and less interference from radio devices." The Technology Rather than relying on a single frequency, ultra-wideband broadcasts controlled pulses over a broad frequency at very short time intervals. This approach moves large volumes of data wirelessly, including video, while consuming very little power. Parco Wireless uses small ultra-wideband transmitters called "tags" that are attached to critical medical equipment or personnel. These tags communicate with a receiver that is connected to a hospital's local area network and sends the information to a specialized computer server that can display an accurate real-time view of the hospital's patients, staff and selected equipment on a two- or three-dimensional map. The information can be pushed wirelessly to personal digital assistants or to a command center responsible for patient safety many miles away. Interference emitted from these tags is low enough to be successfully used in environments with very sensitive medical equipment. Parco has also created a software development kit to help software publishers integrate Parco Wireless into their asset management programs and other applications that can drive hospital productivity. Editors' Note: Journalists may register for an online demonstration by contacting Brian Schwartz at 847.371.3115 or briasch@cdw.com. About CDW CDW(R) (NASDAQ:CDWC), ranked No. 376 on the FORTUNE 500, is a leading provider of technology products and services for business, government and education. CDW is a principal source of technology from top name brands such as APC (1) (American Power Conversion Corporation, West Kingston, RI, www.apcc.com) The leading manufacturer of UPS systems and surge suppressors, founded in 1981 by Rodger Dowdell, Neil Rasmussen and Emanual Landsman, three electronic power engineers who had worked at MIT. , Apple, Cisco, HP, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Microsoft, Sony, Symantec, Toshiba and ViewSonic. CDW distributes contracts to end users for customized and standardized on-site services supplied directly by providers such as HP Services and Unisys and for training programs provided by firms such as KnowledgeNet and Productivity Point International. CDW was founded in 1984 as a home-based business and today employs approximately 3,700 coworkers. In 2003, the company generated net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight of approximately $4.7 billion. CDW's direct model offers one-on-one relationships with knowledgeable account managers; purchasing by telephone, fax, the company's award-winning CDW.com Web site, customized CDW@work(TM) extranets, CDWG CDWG Computer Discount Warehouse Government CDWG Collection Development Working Group CDWG Controls and Displays Working Group .com Web site and macwarehouse.com Web site; custom configured solutions and same day shipping; and pre- and post-sales technical support, with more than 100 factory-trained and A+ certified technicians on staff. Additional information can be found by visiting CDW.com. About Parco Merged Media Parco Merged Media Corporation, a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. headquartered in Portland, Maine is an exclusive license holder of advanced ultra-wideband technology for the health care and safety industry. Parco is the only one-source wireless health care communication systems provider using FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. approved UWB (Ultra-WideBand) A wireless technology that uses less power and provides higher speed than 802.11 Wi-Fi networks or first-generation Bluetooth products. UWB is expected to provide wireless video transmission for home theater systems, cable TV, auto safety and devices and open platform designs. The company's offerings include an award winning proprietary software development kit that allows seamless integration of most existing software data environments on any platform. The Parco Wireless Health Communication System is an open architecture that facilities and software designers can use to incorporate location data into existing applications. The developer's kit employs the latest Microsoft .Net Framework making it easy to code against for most existing hospital applications. Additional information can be found by visiting www.parcomergedmedia.com. |
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