InnerWireless and IBM to Install Advanced Wireless Infrastructure at Vassar Brothers Medical Center to Improve Productivity, Patient Care

IBM Selects InnerWireless' Medical-grade Wireless UtilityT As In-building Solution for Hospital Transformation

RICHARDSON, Texas – Jan. 31, 2006 – InnerWireless announced today that they have completed their first joint installation with IBM of the InnerWireless Medical-grade Wireless UtilityT in Vassar Brothers Medical Center, a 365-bed hospital in the Health Quest network that serves a local population of approximately 585,000 patients. The wireless, in-building platform allows Vassar Brothers to expand and support a broad range of wireless devices and applications to improve hospital operations and patient care. The hospital is enhancing employee productivity with wireless communication tools, increasing patient safety through a wireless medication bar-coding solution, and enabling point-of-care registration to emergency room admissions with wireless devices.

"Vassar Brothers needed a way to streamline point-of-care procedures and improve responsiveness and patient safety, so we decided that the best solution would be a more flexible environment that could leverage wireless devices from the infrastructure up," said Nick Christiano, vice president and chief information officer of HealthServe, Vassar Brother's IT department. "We awarded the contract to IBM because it was the only vendor that could meet all of the hospital's requirements. We are installing a wireless infrastructure capable of distributing all of our current and future wireless applications so we won't have to incur the short- and long-term costs of stacking several discrete, single-service systems on top of each other."

InnerWireless engineers wireless coverage throughout large buildings, which traditionally impede wireless signals because of construction materials that absorb, distort or misdirect radio frequency signals. IBM selected the InnerWireless passive system to provide a strategic platform that will allow Vassar Brothers to deploy an array of wireless applications and devices for real-time clinical communications, monitoring and therapy, as well as building services, on a unified wireless infrastructure.

The InnerWireless system acts like a wireless utility, supporting wireless local area networks (LANs), personal communications services (PCS), BlackBerry®, cell phones, PDAs, and two-way radios. The infrastructure in place at Vassar Brothers enables projects like medication bar coding, wireless voice, and point-of-care registration in the emergency department. Future rollouts will include physician charge capture and asset tracking with wireless location-based services. The security-rich system design provides an even distribution of the radio frequencies, ensuring devices can be used to not only enhance productivity, but also increase patient care and safety.

InnerWireless systems are used in some of the country's most recognizable buildings, including the National Institutes of Health's Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center; the 2.8 million-square-foot Time Warner Center in Manhattan; Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago; and New York City's Rockefeller Center Concourse.

IBM provided healthcare consulting, wireless design and integration expertise, as well as overall management of a range of projects.

"Once again IBM is helping transform the way healthcare is delivered. The combined strengths of IBM and InnerWireless give Vassar Brothers a robust wireless infrastructure that allows the hospital to improve patient outcomes and be well-positioned for future applications," said Patrick Boyle, vice president, IBM Americas Healthcare and Life Sciences.

"We are excited to partner with IBM to bring comprehensive in-building wireless to hospitals across the country," said Ed Cantwell, president, CEO and chairman of InnerWireless. "The proliferation of wireless devices and applications continues to enhance the mobility of healthcare workers and further the level of patient care and safety."

About InnerWireless
InnerWireless ® deploys its Medical-grade Wireless Utility in hospitals and healthcare-related facilities to support a full range of wireless services and applications.  InnerWireless, which guarantees wireless coverage inside buildings ranging in size up to 10 million square feet, is properly engineered to accommodate wireless systems essential for interpersonal communications (including PCS/cellular, messaging/personal data, enterprise voice, and paging); clinical operations (including wireless infusion therapy/medical administration, enterprise/clinical data, portable patient monitoring, and people and asset tracking); and building operations (including building automation, security and first-responder communications, and push-to-talk radios).  For more information about InnerWireless, see www.InnerWireless.com.

About IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences
IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences brings together IBM resources, including information technology, deep industry insights, and research expertise, to help clients develop and deliver safer, more affordable and more effective diagnostics, drugs and medical care. For more information, see www.ibm.com/industries/healthcare