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Sonitor Ultrasound Indoor Positioning System Installed at Brigham & Women's Hospital As Part of SMART Patient Tracking and Monitoring Project

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 09:02 CST

HOPEWELL JUNCTION, N.Y., March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonitor Technologies today announced that its ultrasound indoor positioning system (IPS) was installed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston as part of the SMART ("Scalable Medical Alert and Response Technology") patient tracking and monitoring project. Using the Sonitor IPS system, selected patients in the Emergency department waiting area will be tracked and located by room in real time.

The Emergency department was designated as the testing site for the initial deployment, refinement, and evaluation of the SMART system because of its high patient volume and turnaround times. The SMART project, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Library of Medicine), is a collaborative effort by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D., Ph.D., Decision Systems Group, Brigham and Women's Hospital and principal investigator of the SMART project, remarked, "After careful consideration and evaluation, we chose the Sonitor Technologies ultrasound Indoor Positioning System for the patient tracking component of the SMART project because of its demonstrated location-accuracy and highly responsive customer support. An additional selling point was the ability to work closely with Sonitor staff to accommodate changing requirements in the tracking area(s) and/or objects to be tracked, such as people and equipment."

Sonitor wireless detectors are installed throughout the Emergency department patient waiting areas -- waiting area, lobby, restrooms, etc. Upon registration, patients are given a "Tag" that monitors, tracks and locates their position in real time. This Tag is linked to the patient's digital file, which contains their vital signs while the patient is in the waiting area.

The motion activated Tag transmits its unique identification signal using ultrasound waves as the patient moves throughout the Emergency waiting area. Detectors, using Sonitor's patented Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms, transmit signals in digital format via the existing wireless LAN to a central computer unit that stores the information about the Tag's location and the time of the receipt of the Tag signal in a software program written by collaborating researchers from MIT. This information enables emergency room staff to retrieve a Tag's position and/or movement and determine precisely by room where the patient with that specific Tag is located.

"We are delighted that our ultrasound indoor positioning system (IPS) was selected for such a prestigious research project," said Terry Aasen, President & CEO of Sonitor Technologies, Inc. "Ultrasound signals by nature confine themselves to the room where they originate; therefore, our IPS system makes room identification and accuracy virtually fail-proof. Moreover, our patented Ultrasound-DSP technology ensures that the detectors interpret a Tag's signals without risk of interference from any environmental noise or other signals nor interfere with sensitive instruments, which is particularly important in a hospital setting."

Mr. Aasen continued, "A further benefit of the Sonitor ultrasound IPS is that it is easy to install and maintain, requiring no complex calibrations to compensate for signal reflections from metallic objects etc., as is required with radio frequency-based systems (RFIDs). Therefore, we are confident that Brigham and Women's Hospital will quickly appreciate the technological benefits and cost effective advantages to using the Sonitor ultrasound system."

About Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital is a 747-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare System, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832 and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, dedication to educating and training health care professionals, and strength in biomedical research. With $370M in funding and more than 500 research scientists, BWH is an acclaimed leader in clinical, basic and epidemiological investigation -- including the landmark Nurses Health Study, Physicians Health Studies, and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/.

About Sonitor Technologies

Sonitor Technologies is the developer, manufacturer and supplier of a proprietary ultrasound indoor positioning system (IPS) that automatically tracks precisely by room the real-time location of moveable equipment and people in complex indoor environments, such as hospitals. The Sonitor IPS uses "Detectors" and "Tags" that are linked through the existing wired or wireless LAN to a digital file containing all vital statistics and information about the item or person being monitored. The motion activated Tag transmits a unique identification signal using ultrasound waves to special Detectors that use Sonitor patented ultrasound signal Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms. The Detectors transmit signals via an existing LAN to a central computer that stores the information about the Tag's room-location and the time of receipt of the signal. Sonitor's ultrasound technology ensures that detectors interpret Tag signals without risk of interference from any environmental noise or other signals, such as reflections from metallic objects found with radio frequency-based systems (RFIDs), nor interfere with sensitive instruments, which is particularly important in a hospital setting. The system is designed for safety, and all emitted sound pressure levels are within the international regulations for the safe use of ultrasound. Sonitor Technologies was founded in Norway in 1997. To learn more about the Company and its ultrasound IPS, please visit the corporate web site -- http://www.sonitor.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to future events, such as the development of new products, the commencement of production, or the future financial performance of the Company. These statements fall within the meaning of forward-looking information as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting the Company's markets and market growth rates, products and their rate of commercialization, services, prices and adequacy of financing, and other factors. The Company undertakes no obligation to update, amend, or clarify forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

CONTACTS: Sonitor Technologies SMART Project Terry Aasen Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D. Ph.D. President & CEO Decision Systems Group Sonitor Technologies, Inc. (USA) Brigham and Women's Hospital Tel: +1 (877) 477-9767 75 Francis Street Email: terry.aasen@sonitor.com Boston, MA 02115 Kathy Price / Allan Jordan The Global Consulting Group Tel: +1 (646) 284-9430 / +1 (646) 284-9452 Email: kprice@hfgcg.com / ajordan@hfgcg.com

Sonitor Technologies

CONTACT: Terry Aasen, President & CEO, Sonitor Technologies, Inc. (USA),1-877-477-9767, terry.aasen@sonitor.com; SMART Project - Lucila Ohno-Machado,M.D. Ph.D., Decision Systems Group, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 FrancisStreet, Boston, MA 02115; Kathy Price, +1-646-284-9430, kprice@hfgcg.com, orAllan Jordan, +1-646-284-9452, ajordan@hfgcg.com, both of The GlobalConsulting Group

Web site: http://www.sonitor.com/http://www.brighamandwomens.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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