This past weekend at the DEMO 2003 show in Scottsdale, AZ, Bluesoft unveiled its new positioning platform for wireless LANs.
The San Mateo, CA-based company calls their location system Aeroscout. The system is for others to build location-based awareness into other applications. The software works only with specific hardware devices — it does not take advantage of already deployed access points — called location recieivers, which Bluesoft will sell. The receivers are “dumb” access points of a sort.
The Aeroscout system also supports “tags,” small Wi-Fi based pieces that can be used to tag non-802.11 equipment for constant tracking.
Final pricing on the Aeroscout system is not set yet. Bluesoft’s senior director of Marketing & Business Development, Andris K. Berzins, says the currently available evaluation system is $6000 and that includes 4 location receivers and 2 tags, a limited license for the location server software and a demonstration application. That price also includes installation and training from Bluesoft. The commercial launch of Aeroscout should be in the second quarter of 2003.
The company also showed a Bluetooth positioning module, a chipset for full Bluetooth integration with Bluesoft’s patented distance measurement technology, accurate up to one meter.