Newbury Networks to Unveil Asset Tracking Tools for Wi-Fi

Newbury Networks on March 20 will unveil a couple of new products designed to help customers keep track of their assets and their employees via a Wi-Fi network.

The Newbury Presence Platform is a platform for developers to build location-based applications that run on top of an existing wireless LAN infrastructure.

"The Ciscos, the Nortels and Arubas of the world are looking for reasons for their customers to put their wireless LANs faster," said Michael Maggio, president and CEO of the Boston company, who said he is in partnership discussions with all four of those WLAN hardware makers.

The platform includes a graphical console that lets an administrator see all the tracked assets of a network. (A press release from the company says it provides "real-time visibility into the activity and status of all track objects such as people, equipment and Wi-Fi devices.)

"Instead of just utilizing our location technology, it allows customers to put together applications that make these things more manageable," said Chuck Conley, vice president of marketing at Newbury.

The platform also includes a location application toolkit with Java- and Web-based APIs, officials said. It will be available to channel partners by the end of April.

Newbury also will announce its own asset tracking application, which is named "Active Asset." It works in conjunction with the companys asset tags, which come in a "wearable" version for employers who want to tag their employees.

Pricing depends upon configuration and the size of the tracked area. Pricing starts at $12,995 for a configuration that covers a 20,000 square-foot building, officials said. Active Asset also is due by the end of April.

Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.