Walluf - ACG Identification Technologies, a leading component and technology supplier in the smart card and RFID markets, announces that its RF PC Handheld Reader was selected by Siemens Business Services for its project with the Jacobi Medical Center in New York.

At the end of 2004 and after a successful pilot test, Jacobi Medical Center, the largest public hospital in the Bronx with more than 800 beds, began fitting all patients with RFID enabled wristbands upon admission. The wristbands are embedded with an RFID integrated circuit containing the medical history and unique number for each patient, allowing the hospital staff to identify patients almost instantly and get online access to a database secured by a PKI infrastructure.

In contrast to barcode, RFID wristbands do not require direct access with the reader; they can be scanned through clothing and blankets. The hospital staff uses lightweight PDAs or tablet PCs with a RFID reader to read the data without disturbing the patient. As a result, care of patients has improved. Doctors and nurses can quickly and easily identify patients and can accurately and safely dispense the correct drug dosage at the correct time to the corresponding patient.

Siemens Business Services chose ACG’s RF PC Handheld Reader, in the form of a Compact FlashT card, as a key component in the total solution and success of the Jacobi Medical Center RFID wristband project due to its reliability, flexibility and accuracy.

ACG’s RF PC Handheld Reader can be connected to most typical handheld devices and PCs via a standard CF slot or, via an adaptor, to a PCMCIA slot. Furthermore, the RF PC Handheld Reader closes a gap in the transmission and processing of the collected data, through integration of the upgraded mobile computer into standard wired or wireless networks. The bidirectional data transfer between local transponders and regional or even global database systems is made possible online.

The ACG RF PC Handheld Reader supports all typical operating systems (Windows 98, 2000, ME, NT Service Pack 4 and XP) as well as the majority of ISO 15693 compatible transponders available on the market

About ACG ACG Identification Technologies is an independent component and technology supplier serving the entire value chain of smart card and RFID-based systems. Headquartered in Walluf (Germany), ACG has 21 locations throughout Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.