Laundry managers within the healthcare sector can now quickly self deploy RFID textile identification technology that integrates seamlessly with their existing management or accounting software using a new solution from Datamars.
Cloudburst is bespoke software that runs directly on Datamars’ RFID readers, so that hospital laundry operations can take advantage of all the efficiency and service improvement associated with the technology, without complex interfacing requirements or hidden development costs.
“The complexity of integrating an RFID system with existing laundry IT systems is often overlooked, leading to unforeseen development costs and poor reading performance,” said Andrea Carbonetti, senior UHF product engineer and Cloudburst development team leader.
“Hospital laundry operations are turning to RFID solutions to help stand out among competitors and achieve performance benefits, but fitting such a system into their existing management or accounting software is a fundamental part of the RFID package to make the most of its potential.
“Cloudburst guarantees a perfect integration into existing software solutions in a matter of minutes.”
UHF RFID Laundrychips, designed to withstand the harshest environments of the industrial laundry sector, are proven to help laundries to efficiently control and assign laundry items and provide them with important competitive advantages.
Cloudburst enables existing laundry management or accounting software to quickly and efficiently receive clean and pre-processed data from the RFID reading systems, so this useful information is ready for any reports or billing.
In addition, the solution automatically configures the RFID parameters of each reading system, guaranteeing the best functioning that automates the management of tagged textiles.
With ease-of-use and integration in mind, Cloudburst has been developed to offer pre-configured modes, depending on what reading system is being installed, and can be simply set up and managed through a web browser.
The software supports a wide range of communication interfaces, protocols and data formats, so an RFID solution can be configured with virtually any local-or cloud-based laundry IT system in a matter of minutes.
It overcomes some of the common issues linked with other software integration solutions, which often require RFID system controls to be installed in the laundry IT system via an extra software module. But, as these systems are not primarily designed to handle real-time processes; RFID and automation performance can be poor and the resulting solution can also be extremely difficult to master and understanding reading performance can become a real challenge if it is not as expected.
As Cloudburst makes a clear split between the RFID system and the laundry management system, knowing where unexpected outcomes are coming from is straight forward.
“Integrating an RFID solution into an existing IT system is critically important, so this needs to be carefully considered when implementing such a package,” said Carbonetti.
“Cloudburst is an essential building block, improving efficiency and providing clean data ready for any hospital laundry operation.
“You do not even need to make any changes to your laundry management or accounting software because it provides a seamless and effortless integration in almost 100% of cases.”
