Cape May County Uses Xybernaut Wearable Computers for Mobile Public Works Programs
Wednesday October 30, 8:50 am ET
Field Applications Include Tracking Wildlife, Tracking Storm Water, Mapping Public Water Supplies, Collecting Tax Data, Asset and Facility Inventory Management
FAIRFAX, Va. & CAPE MAY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2002-- Cape May County (NJ) officials have begun using wearable computers from Xybernaut Corporation (Nasdaq:XYBR - News) to do everything from tracking wildlife, to monitoring water supplies, to mapping road signs and buildings. Although many federal, state and local governments employ Xybernaut wearable technologies, Cape May is one of the first counties in the U.S. to use the Company's wearable computers for mobile public works projects.
In a deployment that began this summer, county officials are using Xybernaut Mobile Assistant® V (MA® V) wearable computers -- configured with Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, ESRI's ArcPad 6 software, and GPS receivers -- for a wide range of field force automation activities that, according to County Official Brian O'Connor, "...have really tested the reliability, performance and ruggedness of the Xybernaut platform versus notebook and handheld PCs."
These field force automation applications have included using Xybernaut wearable computers for creating a storm water outfall database (currently more than 800 storm water outfalls are registered and managed); locating over 70 public water supply wells in mostly rural areas; conducting animal species surveys in heavy marsh areas; field collection of tax assessor data; and road sign and building inventory management.
"Prior to using the MA V, we experimented with laptops and handhelds PCs and ran into several problems in the field that ranged from system failure of a handheld while working on the beach in 100+ degree temperatures; to short battery life; to the lack of hard drive storage capacity for GPS data and large aerial photography files; to lack of mobility in thick brush and harsh conditions," added O'Connor, who is a GIS Specialist for Cape May County.
With the MA V, Cape May County officials found, "... reliability, performance, storage and ruggedness that we haven't found with other platforms," O'Connor said. "For example, the MA V functioned flawlessly in high heat conditions and showed no signs of wear even when our biologists fell into brush or banged a unit against a tree. In addition, the MA V has the storage capability to hold large aerial photography files and the processing power to run sophisticated GIS software for long periods of time," he added.
Utilizing a wireless/wearable information delivery system based on Xybernaut MA V computers, county employees have been able to complete more timely and accurate inspections, create location specific recommendations and prepare real-time inspection reports/work orders. "Most importantly, we have been able to increase productivity and save considerable amounts of time. There is no way we could have completed some of these field automation projects in such a short time without the MA V," O'Connor said.
County employees are using a Xybernaut wearable computer system with a digital camera and an all-light-readable touch screen flat-panel display (FPD). The MA V systems are being integrated into the County's computing architecture by Tech International of Delaware, Inc. -- a value added reseller (VAR) and member of the Team Xybernaut partner community.
About Tech International of Delaware, Inc.
Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Tech International provides systems integration and software solutions to government, corporate and private sector clients. With its rich network of subject matter experts and strategic partners, the company is able to leverage new technologies in GIS/GPS mapping, high-speed wireless communication and Voice Recognition to add value to government and business operations in diverse areas such as engineering, health care, environment, energy & utilities, defense & security and education. One of Tech International's immediate goals is to assist the engineering community in realizing the unique benefits that wearable computing technologies offer over hand-held and laptop computer. Visit Tech International at www.techofdelaware.com.
About Xybernaut Corporation
Xybernaut Corporation is the leading provider of wearable/mobile computing hardware, software and services, bringing communications and full-function computing power in a hands-free design to people when and where they need it. Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, Xybernaut has offices and subsidiaries in Europe (Germany) and Asia (Japan). Visit Xybernaut's Web site at www.xybernaut.com.
Xybernaut, the Xybernaut logo and Mobile Assistant® V (MA® V) are trademarks or registered trademarks of Xybernaut Corporation in the USA and other countries. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "plan," "confident that," "believe," "scheduled," "expect," or "intend to," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any of the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market conditions, the availability of components and successful production of the Company's products, general acceptance of the Company's products and technologies, competitive factors, timing, and other risks described in the Company's SEC reports and filings.
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Contact:
Xybernaut Corporation, Fairfax
Michael Binko, 703/631-6925
mbinko@xybernaut.com |
