So indeed it is an unusual thing to get competitors together respectfully, and that’s what Intelligent InSites did at their first annual partner summit last week in Fargo, ND. And while Aeroscout was conspicuously absent from the proceedings, the four other key players in the sensory network/RFID/RTLS infrastructure space (I realize that’s a mouthful): Centrak, Ekahau, Sonitor, & Awarepoint were there in full force. No insults, put downs, or barbs. It was refreshingly civil.

A More Open Sandbox

As a relative newcomer to the RTLS space, InSites is taking a decidedly open approach to location enablement (or “Enterprise Visibility” as they like to refer to it). With so many potential applications in the healthcare enterprise that can benefit from location intelligence, InSites’ true differentiation is the platform, and not just a collection of their own applications. This is a more open sandbox than you would typically see in healthcare (traditionally a rats nest from an interoperability perspecttve) and this bodes well for customers who realize that technology tribalism is counterproductive. Their vision is one of location smarts, inbound and outbound, framed by business intelligence: not only good data, but the tools to make sense of that data. And indeed that’s why it made sense for all the infrastructure players to be there together.

Hmm… Beta, VHS, Blue Ray

The summit provided a very well-rounded look at a relatively new industry. Maybe it’s the sports fandom that’s in us, but we looked forward to having a chance to see the infrastructure players all together at the same time. To that end, Vi Shaffer, Gartner’s Research Vice President and Global Industry Services Director for Healthcare, led a lively roundtable with Ekahau’s Tuomo Rutanen, Centrak’s Mark Nowakowski, Awarepoint’s Matt Perkins, and Sonitor’s Terry Aasen. This was followed up on Day 2 by each of the player sharing the unique aspects of their product.

What was very striking to us as we listened to the pitches was how widely different each of these companies’ approaches to providing precise location information is. Nothing apples to apples about it. It’s rare to see key infrastructure players approaches so radically different in approach (this is more than Beta vs. VHS). One does wonder how this shakes out as the industry matures.

And while as a business TPC Healthcare has its own preferences, as a technologist, I was jazzed about what they are all doing for different reasons:

• Ekahau for continuing to refine what’s doable with Wi-Fi
• Centrak for their ability to provide great precision using a very practical and simple architecture
• Awarepoint’z ZigBee based solution for thinking big regarding reaching beyond just the healthcare institution and into the home (and small with their convenient wall socket plug-in readers)
• Sonitor for the promise of 1 meter accuracy, 2D or 3D (kudos to Terry for being brave enough to demonstrate USID in front of a potentially rough crowd)

An interesting to note is that  we are beginning to see the some degree of the competitive vendors applying aspects of each other’s technologies in the effort of meeting the market needs (e.g. Ekahau’s introduction of IR-based room level beacon). Perhaps this is an indication of some future consolidation/collaboration on the horizon.

RTLS Infrastructure Now Poised to Really Deliver Anticipated Benefits

Keynoter Vi Shaffer’s lunchtime presentation was careful to give context to the state of RTLS in healthcare. The good news is that Gartner’s view of RTLS is very bullish, and places it clearly in their hype cycle chart on the upswing from the trough of disillusionment (where technologies fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable) and moving towards the “plateau of productivity” (a technology’s benefits become widely demonstrated and accepted).

The timing of InSites summit was not accidental, as much is finally coming together that is making RTLS actionable (including platforms like Intelligent InSites that recognize the diversity of potential location consumers). Real, measurable, and game changing productivity is practical in ways that were never before possible. While the true results will no doubt be the sum of the parts, the backbone of the productivity end game will be the practical, affordable, and accurate location infrastructure that Ekahau, Centrak, Awarepoint, and Sonitor are driving towards.