Stockholm, May 29, 2006 – Appear Networks today announced that it has won the "Best Enterprise Wi-Fi Product" award together with Cisco Systems at the Wireless Broadband Innovation Awards 2006, held at Olympia, London (www.wbiaward.com). The award is in recognition of Appear IQ and the Cisco 2700 Series Wireless Location Appliance, which has been deployed to bring indoor location-based services to enterprises throughout Europe.
The new solution was publicly announced on May 2 and helps allow the delivery of targeted applications to personal devices from ’context-aware’ mobile networks. The solution has been deployed with system integration partners across a number of industries including transport, retail, hospitality and public sector. Recent customer deployments include the Stockholm Subway and the Kista Galleria, one of the most successful shopping malls in Northern Europe.
Appear Networks has integrated the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network with its own wireless communication platform, Appear IQ, to create an Integrated Location Services Solution that understands who the end users are, where they are and what device they are using at any given time.
Based on contextual information such as time of day, job role, and current physical location, the solution is able to access the right information, which is interpreted and pushed out in real time to the right users, and to the right location. This Integrated Location Services Solution is also able to use the Wi-Fi network in order to determine the location of mobile assets and devices to within a few meters, leading to a better-informed and more effective workforce, which includes frontline, maintenance and security employees.
In the subway scenario, for example, a security agent can send a silent alert by simply pressing a button on his wireless device. Instantly, the alert is geo-localized and real-time video streams from the local surveillance cameras are pushed onto the mobile terminals of the nearby security agents. This state of alert also triggers an automatic self-configuration of the network, which sets new priority rules for bandwidth management, providing optimal quality of service for the security crew. Moreover, punctual “field ops” applications are instantly pushed to the security crew to support them during the intervention; for example, a simple click on his terminal will automatically connect a security agent to his closest colleague via voice over IP (VoIP).
According to Pieter Zylstra, Director of Sales and Business Development, Appear Networks, “Regulatory requirements as well as security issues are creating an immediate need for an integrated IP enabled service-based network enriched with location-based functionality. With the Cisco and Appear platform we can offer location-based and context-aware services that bring significant benefits to our customers.”
"The proliferation of wireless networks and location-based solutions is helping enable enterprises to harness the capability of wireless technology to improve customer service and public safety. As a result of our collaboration with Appear, we have given customers the ability to deliver business critical data to all their mobile workers.” said Andy Oldfield, wireless technology marketing manager for Cisco Systems.
Appear Networks is opening a new partner program for system integrators involved in deploying wireless solutions.
About Appear Networks:Appear Networks is a leading provider of wireless communication platforms that enable successful enterprise mobility solutions. The Appear IQ suite of products transforms standard wireless data networks into multimedia channels to deliver personalized, real-time information, mission-critical video and VoIP communication to mobile workers. In highly demanding, mobile environments, Appear IQ makes technology accessible and intuitive, leveraging existing IT investments to maximize employee productivity and the effectiveness of customer interactions. Appear IQ is used by leaders in the transportation, telecommunication and public sectors, including, among others, Dutch Rail (NS), Stockholm Subway (SL), Paris Local Transport Authority (RATP), Connex, France Telecom and the City of Kista, Sweden. Appear Networks partners with IT industry leaders Cisco, Capgemini, Intel and Fujitsu Siemens Computers to deliver innovative, end-to-end, integrated WLAN solutions. The privately held company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, visit http://www.appearnetworks.com
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