WhereNet Corp., the wireless location and communications solutions for managing mobile resources, announced another industry first: the WhereNet G2™ system, a next-generation wireless location and communication system that includes the WhereLAN™ integrated wireless local area network (LAN), which supports real-time location, messaging, telemetry, and communication.
Together with WhereNet’s innovative software solutions, the WhereNet G2 system provides a single, integrated wireless infrastructure for real-time location, messaging, telemetry, and 802.11b applications. Based on WhereNet advanced location technology and the company’s IEEE industry standards–based wireless LAN, the WhereNet G2 system enables Fortune 500 customers to reduce operational costs, increase productivity, and realize dramatic return on investment.
The WhereNet G2 system has been adopted by New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), the Toyota–General Motors joint-venture vehicle-assembly plant in Fremont, Calif. Like WhereNet’s first-generation customers — Ford Motor Co., Coca-Cola, Meijer, and others — WhereNet G2 customers can expect a rapid time to benefit of about 90 days and a return on investment in 9 to 12 months. Because the WhereNet G2 system lets customers leverage the benefits of real-time connectivity between critical assets and the people and information systems that manage those assets, Fortune 500 supply chains can operate more efficiently than ever before by achieving a higher return on assets, increased throughput, and better customer service.
“A major problem with supply chain visibility today is that there really isn’t any visibility at the plant or warehouse floor level. Supply chain management and ERP applications are handicapped by inaccurate, latent data,” said Dwight Klappich, program director, application delivery strategies, META Group. “Companies increasingly need constant connectivity between mobile assets and data-starved information systems. WhereNet continues to make numerous innovations in this area.”
Today’s enterprises rely on a host of disparate wireless systems for conducting day-to-day operations. Managing multiple wireless infrastructures for data collection and communication poses increasing challenges for IT organizations, which devote major resources trying to integrate all of the unrelated systems together into a common IT platform. The integration success rate is very low, and the compromise of functionality is very high. The WhereNet G2 single wireless infrastructure delivers an unprecedented solution for providing low-cost location, messaging, telemetry, and 802.11b applications for managing mobile resources in a local environment.
Backed by two of the world’s leading scientists in weak signal, digital-signal processing and a score of patented and patent-pending intellectual property, WhereNet developed G2 into the only single wireless infrastructure for managing mobile resources. The flexibility and scalability of the WhereNet G2 system opens a world of opportunities for enterprises to cost-effectively and rapidly deploy multiple applications for real-time location, telemetry, messaging, and 802.11b — all under a single integrated wireless infrastructure.
The unlimited power of G2 is ultimately realized through the application of the technology. WhereNet G2 applications give customers a competitive advantage by enabling them to reduce labor costs, inventory, spoilage, shrinkage, leasing, and warranty costs. The single wireless G2 infrastructure allows customers to select which applications to start with and then add more applications as their needs dictate. The G2 system can simultaneously support multiple applications from WhereNet such as Yard Management, Vehicle Inventory Management, Container Management, Asset Management, and Parts Replenishment. WhereNet G2 also supports an organization’s existing enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and inventory applications as well as applications developed by WhereNet partners.
“Anyone considering installing a wireless LAN or extending the functionality of a current system to manage mobile resources should seriously look at our economical, modular G2 architecture. Our solution is unmatched by any other in the world,” said Dan Doles, president and CEO, WhereNet Corp. “Quite simply, we are the first vendor to reduce the costs and complexity of enterprise location and communications systems through a single integrated wireless system that supports a multitude of applications for managing mobile resources.”
At the heart of G2 is WhereNet’s new WhereLAN™ system, which serves as both a real-time locating system (RTLS) sensor and an access point for non-WhereNet wireless LAN clients and applications. Through this cost-effective convergence of three wireless technologies — 802.11b wireless LANs, wireless messaging (telemetry), and RTLS — WhereNet has extended and evolved its first-generation technology into a single distributed architecture. WhereLAN combines the core radio transceiver of a WiFi-certified access point with the computational power of WhereNet’s locating radio into a compact package that shares antennas, power, and network connections to reduce overall infrastructure costs, reduce cable runs, and improve system reliability.
