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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Tablet Helps Businesses Safely Reopen

As cities and entire countries cautiously ease out of the global lockdown and into recovery, they face the task of reducing risk in the workplace and public spaces. 

San Diego-based OneScreen is delivering technology that both private and public sectors can use to help reopen safely.

The technology, called the GoSafe, does the heavy lifting. It’s a stand-alone tablet designed to detect masks and elevated temperatures as people enter offices, schools, buildings, hospitals and public spaces.

Tapping tech from Qualcomm, it securely scans for temperature, masks, ID cards and other factors using on-device artificial intelligence and real-time assistance over video.

Commercialization

Brought to market in May, OneScreen hopes the device will provide large and small businesses, hospitality and schools, with the tools they need to begin recovery.

“We take our product quality responsibilities very seriously because we know how much our customers expect from us. That means more than just protecting the privacy and security of personal data, it means always looking for ways to improve their lives in the real world,” said CEO Sufian Munir. “We’ve sought ways to simplify collaboration and education. With GoSafe, we are working to simplify the process of bringing people back together safely.”

Within a two month window, Munir was able to take his idea from concept to execution. Working with Qualcomm for research and development, the product was commercialized at “lightning speed.”

“That is not a normal product development lifecycle,” said Dennis Pappenfus, CEO of Fluid Sound. “It is lightning speed.”

Fluid Sound is a local company assisting OneScreen with its product rollout. Pappenfus said the need for this device today is massive and will continue to grow. 

High Labor Costs

“San Diego County requires all restaurants, every day to screen every employee. If you think about the cost associated with implementing a health screening process for any business, big or small, it’s a significant labor cost,” he added. 

OneScreen’s devices have sold more than 2,000, to date. The company has supplied devices to about 12 school districts and is working with the San Diego Airport for its pilot program.

The market opportunity between school districts and airports alone is large enough to bring in significant profit. Close to 29,000 school districts and educational institutions plan to deploy some kind of technology procedure this upcoming Fall alone. Regionally, the local airport serves roughly 25 million people through its terminals each year. 

Other places the devices are being used include Qualcomm headquarters, The Port of San Diego and Old Town’s restaurant Hungry’s Kitchen and Tap.

Additional cities include Jersey City which is placing devices at the entrance to all of the city’s 69 municipal buildings.

Restaurants may be interested in OneScreens solution as they are looking for best safety procedures to keep customers and employees adapt to the new normal. Now with a new task on their plate  —  employee temperature checks and monitoring. 

Pappenfus said small businesses are unable to pay their bills and will not survive bringing in 10% in revenue much longer. 

“If you talk about what is in it for businesses, restaurants are at 10% of their normal revenue. They now have to find ways to make people comfortable,” said Pappenfus. “For a restaurant, they want people to come in and eat and spend money. They can’t survive with that amount of revenue for much longer,” he added. 

Helping Corporations

For corporations, Several similar building access products with body temperature abilities have cropped up on the market, but OneScreen says its GoSafe system is unique in allowing live video assistance for real-time entry approval.

Another distinguishing feature is that OneScreen offers GoSafe as a service paid on a monthly basis with an up-front cost of $249 to get the product and begin the subscription.

OneScreen worked with Qualcomm and its capital providers to come up with a subscription plan for customers that believe they need this technology for a long period of time.

It is still too early to determine whether the device will be a long-term business unit. Munir said the company plans to sell “millions” of devices over the next several years. 

“When Qualcomm gets behind a project like this, they are not interested in figures like 2,000 units,” said Munir. “They ask about ‘How many millions of chips are we going to sell with this product?’ That is really what we are aiming for.”

Munir added, he believes that a new industry is popping up, catering to the new way of learning that every human will have to get accustomed to moving forward. 

OneScreen is a member of the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program. Headquartered in San Diego, the company employs 140 local staffers with offices in Pakistan, Colombia, Mexico, U.A.E. and Canada. Revenue was not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, Fluid Sound is an audio video system design and installation company. The company employs 20 and has worked with clients such as the Red Cross to multi-billion pharmaceutical giants. 

Pappenfus said working with OneScreen has provided them the opportunity to make a real impact. 

“This is the first project that Fluid Sound has been involved in that is affecting real life,” said Pappenfus. “Most of the time, it’s communications and technology that is beneficial for businesses but this is the first time that there’s been a societal and a life effect. We are really excited.”

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