Mist Systems, a Juniper Networks company and specialist in secure, AI-driven networks, has announced several new platforms that assist enterprises as they locate employees, customers and guests back onsite after current regional and global stay-at-home restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted.
By using Juniper's Mist access points and cloud services in conjunction with Wi-Fi and/or BLE-enabled devices such as phones and badges, the company contends that enterprises can now take advantage of the following business critical use cases as part of strategic contact tracing and social distancing initiatives:
- Proximity tracing: If an individual identifies as COVID-19 positive (or is experiencing symptoms), enterprises can quickly identify and notify other employees, guests or customers that may have been in close proximity to that individual while onsite.
- Journey mapping: Customers can view historical traffic patterns and dwell times for employees who have reported testing positive for COVID-19 – from the moment they were onsite to departure. Journey mapping can identify high-traffic hot zones so customers can take safety measures such as reconfiguring workspaces and deploying additional cleaning efforts.
- Hot zone alerting: By looking at the quantity of devices and locations in specific areas, enterprises can disperse or divert traffic away from congested areas with real-time, location-based alerting. They can also view trends over time to identify certain areas for proactive measures.
By leveraging Mist’s proven AI-driven Wi-Fi, patented virtual Bluetooth LE and Premium Analytics features, the company says these use cases can be delivered in a scalable manner, while simultaneously providing customers with the controls to protect individual privacy.
Juniper Mist also has a robust ecosystem of technology partners to deliver comprehensive solutions in support of enterprise contact tracing, social distancing and other indoor location use cases. This includes wearable BLE badges, real-time notification systems and applications that can leverage the Mist open-SDK for high-accuracy indoor location.
“Employee health and wellness have always been a key part of business continuity planning, but now more than ever enterprises are looking to IT for help complying with OSHA, ADA, CDC and other guidelines,” commented Sudheer Matta, VP of products at Mist. “The Mist architecture provides unique value by combining Wi-Fi with patented virtual BLE technology, supported by a 16 antenna array that is bi-directional and minimizes the need for extra infrastructure hardware like battery-powered beacons. In addition, Mist recently launched a Premium Analytics service that provides unique insight from a variety of data sources to optimize end-user/client experiences and identify trends that can assist customers with workplace safety.”
Learn more at https://www.mist.com/contact-tracing.
