Oakland, CA — September 15, 2010 — Zebra Enterprise Solutions (ZES), a division of Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA), today announced the launch of Dart Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Real Time Locating System (RTLS) in the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The next generation of the Sapphire UWB product line, Dart UWB provides precise location accuracy and real-time visibility of highly mobile, high-value asset movement. Dart UWB is especially effective in industries characteristic with highly-metallic environments, such as IT, aerospace, financial, federal government and aerospace and defense. Dart UWB also includes a full set of location products certified for use in potentially hazardous and explosive environments as defined by the ATEX Directive in Europe. These intrinsically safe location products have been designed for use in extreme, regulated environments such as petrochemical and other process-focused manufacturing industries.
RFID Global Solution (RFIDGS), a long-time ZES partner and an early adopter of the first generation Sapphire solution, provided input to aid in the development of the next generation Dart UWB product. In a pilot implementation of the Dart solution, RFIDGS experienced benefits including: improved ease of system and tag configuration, more ruggedized tags for harsh environments, extended battery life options, increased mobility options and improved integration with RFIDGS' Visi-Trac product line, and global interoperability.
"We are excited to offer the next generation of Dart UWB to our customers because it's an innovative, breakthrough technology that provides the accuracy our clients are looking for," said Diana Hage, CEO of RFID Global Solution, Inc. "UWB appears to be an ideally suited active tag technology for enterprise asset tracking. ZES' proven track record with this technology makes offering the Dart hardware coupled with our Visi-Trac application software an easy choice."With the first-generation Sapphire product, RFIDGS delivered a comprehensive, industry-leading hardware and software solution that had significant traction with Fortune 50 enterprise class clients. Now, with upgraded technology in Dart UWB such as the new configuration tool, RFIDGS is able to automatically configure a customer's system. This improvement greatly reduces field install times and allows RFIDGS to get customers up and running more quickly. RFIDGS sees an opportunity for Dart UWB, especially in industries like aerospace and defense, for example, where mobile training in urban combat centers calls for real-time movement of personnel in simulators.
"We're very excited to introduce the next generation Dart product for immediate, tangible, real-time awareness of critical assets" said Bill Walsh, General Manager of ZES. "With long-range, multi-read abilities, the capabilities and benefits of Dart UWB allow us to provide the location accuracy and environmental durability our customers' desire."
