First Asset Tracking Solution Fully Integrated into WLAN Infrastructure to Improve Staff Efficiency and Customer Experience while Controlling Costs
New BLE-powered Aruba Tags, Aruba Access Points and Meridian Software Eliminate Loss of Valuable Assets and Automate Inventory Management; Expanded Ecosystem Enables Broad Adoption Across Industries
Aruba announced a new addition to its location-based services portfolio that helps organizations easily track valued assets, resulting in improved organizational efficiency and lower capital and operational costs associated with misplaced assets. The Aruba asset tracking solution is fully integrated into the Aruba wireless infrastructure, enabling simplified, fully integrated deployments at dramatically reduced costs.
Organizations worldwide lose millions of dollars every year on high-value items and inventory that are misplaced, lost or stolen. Furthermore, employees and customers suffer from lost productivity and poor experiences. These challenges are particularly prevalent in industries like healthcare, where items such as IV pumps and heart defibrillators are easily misplaced, resulting in 25 percent of hospital staff’s time wasted looking for these assets1 and negatively impacting quality of care. In retail and warehousing, items that can’t be located quickly mean wasted time for employees, delayed order fulfillment for customers and often, a loss of revenue for the retailer.
Aruba asset tracking addresses these challenges with a solution that is integrated into the Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure, eliminating the need for a separate network. Organizations also gain the benefits of accurate tracking of important items using either an intuitive, map-based mobile app or by integrating with organizations’ existing tracking solutions. The solution includes the following components:
Advancements to ArubaOS and Aruba APs: This new software allows Aruba BLE-enabled Access Points and Sensors to act as asset tag “observers,” creating a sensory network that provides added value to organizations with existing Aruba wireless infrastructure. In essence, it allows their Wi-Fi infrastructure to double as an asset tracking network.
New Aruba Tags: Cost-effective Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) – enabled tags are slightly larger than a quarter, making them ideal for items that range in size from IV pumps in a healthcare setting to pallets of goods in a warehouse. The tags are designed to meet stringent environmental requirements and come with multiple attachment options.
Asset Tag Configuration App: Aruba’s configuration app makes set-up and ongoing management of the tags simple. Assets can be designated with names, photos and optional IDs so that like assets can be searched for easily. Changes can be performed quickly, near the assets, and all data is automatically saved in a central cloud database.
New features for the Aruba Meridian AppMaker: Organizations can now create their own asset tracking app for iOS or Android with the Meridian AppMaker. The AppMaker provides a new SDK and APIs for seamless third-party integration and custom use cases.
Aruba asset tracking is one of the intelligent edge innovations that Aruba unveiled this week at HPE Discover. Aruba also introduced its 8400 Core Switch Series, a new core aggregation switch that delivers the performance, power, automation, and troubleshooting capabilities necessary to address the challenges of mobility, cloud, and IoT inherent in networks today.
