Communications for today... and tomorrow.

TekTalk Newsletter—Fourth Quarter 2007, Issue 102

IN THIS ISSUE . . .

Tek-CARE^®400 Loses Its Training Wheels!
Employee Spotlight: Kevin Tucker
TekTone^® is Growing Again!
TekTip: Tek-CARE^®NC300II Bed-out Function
In Brief…
The March of Dimes
Looking Glass Rock
Our Automated Telephone System
Literature Update
Warranty Numbers Issued by TekTone^®
Trade Shows

TekTalk is Going Green! This will be the last printed issue of TekTalk. To receive future issues of TekTalk via email, please send your email address to: tektalk@tektone.net. We will also continue to publish TekTalk on our website.

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Tek-CARE^®400 Loses Its Training Wheels!

Our first Tek-CARE^®400 beta-site installation has been successfully completed at Angel Medical Center in Franklin, NC. TekTone^®'s Tek-CARE^®400 nurse call system was recently purchased and installed at Angel by Modern Systems, a TekTone^® Elite Partner.

"I was very impressed with the Tek-CARE^®400. They really put a lot of time into things we'd been looking for for the past several years," said Chief Nursing Officer Tammy Dills.

The Tek-CARE^®400 system can be programmed to meet a facility's specific needs and goals, while providing a choice of centralized or decentralized system configurations. The Tek-CARE^®400 features a touchscreen master station, a variety of patient stations, peripheral devices and pagers, and management and reporting software.

The master station has a small footprint, is spill resistant, centrally powered, and completely self-contained. It provides both a graphical icon view and a list view of the unit, and can display calls from the entire facility. It also includes a slide-out keyboard for creating custom pages and a membrane keypad for the most commonly used functions.

"I believe the system will be beneficial because of its simplicity of use," said Women and Children's Unit Director Roberta Bowles. "It's easy to use. It improves communication overall, which is very important. It also provides more privacy to our patients, because a nurse can pick up the phone now and talk to a patient about a problem instead of having the problem [broadcast] for t he whole nurses' station to hear."

Dills said, "Angel Medical Center is very pleased to be working collaboratively with TekTone^®. I believe the new nurse call system will truly benefit our patients and staff. We're glad to be working with a local company that offers a dedicated, hard working staff devoted to patient safety and customer satisfaction."

Tek-CARE^®400 is distributed exclusively through the TekTone^® Elite Partner program. For more information, contact TekTone^®.

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Employee Spotlight: Kevin Tucker

Pictured above is Kevin Tucker "Losing his training wheels." Kevin Tucker has been a Software Engineer with TekTone^® for four years, working primarily on the application code for the Tek-CARE^®400's touchscreen master station and master & station module. He also wrote the Tek-MMARS^®400 software and contributed to the Tek-CARE^®400's Config Tool programming software.

Kevin was born and raised in Franklin. He earned his Bachelor's degree at Appalachian State and his Master's degree at NC State, both in Computer Science. He programs primarily in C, Ruby and Python, but is interested in doing more with Erlang and Lisp. In his spare time, you'll find Kevin training at the racetrack with his motorcycle. Next year, he'll be competing in motorcycle road-racing. He also enjoys hiking and backpacking with Ridley, his boxer, and spends a lot of time reading.

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TekTone^® is Growing Again!

In September, TekTone^® broke ground on a new 6,000-square-foot metal building. The new building is located just across the road on the 4.5-acre parcel that TekTone^® purchased in 1989. Construction should be finished by the middle of January 2008.

When complete, the building will be used for overflow warehouse space, although it will also include bathrooms. No employees will be moving to the new facility initially.

TekTone^®'s total facility space will then be 38,000 square feet. This expansion will enable us to handle increasing sales of our new Tek-CARE^®400 nurse call system. Plus, over the next 5-6 years, TekTone^® expects to add approximately 52,000 square feet more across the street, and up to 50 more jobs.

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TekTip: Tek-CARE^®NC300II Bed-out Function

The Tek-CARE^®NC300II bed-out function is normally used only with our RY351B Hill-Rom^® SideCom^® Adapters. This function is enabled via the bed-out menu option when a Hill-Rom^® bed is connected to the system by means of the RY351B module. Proper operation of the bed-out function generates a routine call when the bed is disconnected. If the bed is not reconnected within a few seconds, the routine call escalates to a bed-out call and must be reset locally after the bed is reconnected.

A side effect of this application is that when the call button is pressed and held for several seconds, the routine call which has been placed escalates to a bed-out call. When the button is released, the bed-out call clears and the routine call is also reset.

Our engineering department has identified the cause of this anomaly and is working to correct the situation. All distributors will be notified when the revised software is released and available for field upgrades.

In the meantime, we recommend that the bed-out function be disabled in all Tek-CARE^®NC300II installations. To determine if the function is enabled, access the main menu and select option 2-RECONFIGURATION. Option 7 on this menu will be either "ENABLE BEDOUT CALL" or "DISABLE BEDOUT CALL." If it reads "ENABLE," the bed-out function is not in use (this is the default setting). If it reads "DISABLE," select option 7 to disable the bed-out function. In installations using RY351Bs, a routine call will be generated when a bed is disconnected, but it will not escalate to a bed-out call.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and wish to assure you that we are working diligently to resolve this issue.

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In Brief…

• TekTalk is Going Green! This will be the last printed issue of TekTalk. To receive future issues of TekTalk via email, please send your email address to: tektalk@tektone.net. We will also continue to publish TekTalk on our website.
• Our website, www.tektone.net, has a whole new look that better complements our new color literature. Although the look has changed, all the same information is there, including spec sheets and installation manuals.
• IL730 TekCD, our website and catalog on CD, has also been updated. TekCD contains all the literature that's available on our website, so it's a great way to carry TekTone manuals and spec sheets with you.

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The March of Dimes

This summer, our Production Department led by Barbara Queen, raised over $1500 for the March of Dimes. Our fundraisers included several raffles, spaghetti and hot dog dinners, a sausage biscuit breakfast, ice cream cones snack, and donations. In this photo, TekTone^® employees gather together before the March of Dimes walk.

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Looking Glass Rock

Named for its resemblance in silhouette to a seaman's telescope, Looking Glass Rock near Brevard is one of the most popular hiking and climbing destinations along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Speaking geologically, Looking Glass Rock is a pluton, a big ball of molten magma that cooled before it made its way to the surface. As time and weather slowly wore down the mountains (mostly gneiss), this ball of stone became exposed. From the Blue Ridge Parkway, Looking Glass Rock looks like a great stone dome...which is what it is. Hiking it to the top affords one a fantastic view.

Photo & article by Anna Kaster,
Operations & Business Computer Programmer

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Our Automated Telephone System

When you call TekTone^®, our automated telephone system gives you these dialing options:

2	Technical Support
3	Sales Department
4	Purchasing
5	Accounts Payable
6	Accounts Receivable
0	Operator

You can also dial the direct extension for a member of our Sales Department:

119	Judy Hartley (U.S. Sales)
139	Lynne Tripp (U.S. Sales)
133	Cristofre Bessette (International Sales)

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Literature Update

This literature has been revised or introduced since our last TekTalk.

IL#	Rev.	Products
spec sheets (PDF-only):
IL362	12	SF100C
IL472	14	PK250B
IL558	7	JK300A, JK300/2
IL576	6	SF118/2C, SF118/4C
IL614	5	IR085B
IL639	4	SF102
IL696	6	NC351A, NC351A/2
IL698	4	PK305A
IL723	3	IR087A
IL734	2	NC397A
IL739	3	SF380C, SF380P
color literature:
IL309	12	brochure
IL342	11	Tek-CARE® NC110, NC150, NC200
IL408	15	Tek-CARE® NC300II
other:
IL037	30	price list
IL312	17	housing chart
IL452	28	nurse call price list
IL649	8	section A condensed catalog

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Warranty Numbers Issued by TekTone^®

May	2007	N3004986
Jun	2007	N3017829
Jul	2007	N3032502
Aug	2007	N3043729
Sep	2007	N3062810
Oct	2007	N3073735
Nov	2007	N3086918
Dec	2007	N3102741

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Trade Shows

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Copyright © 2007 by TekTone^® Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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TekTone^® Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc.
277 Industrial Park Road Franklin, NC 28734 USA
Phone: (828) 524-9967 Fax: (828) 524-9968
Sales: (800) 327-8466 Tech Support: (800) 332-6608