RFID
Poll Ranks RFID Third Among "Hot" Technologies
A new web poll conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) ranks radio frequency identification (RFID) third among "hot" technologies that will have the greatest impact in 2006. Convergence solutions, such as voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone and unified messaging, were ranked number one, followed by security solutions. "The poll results are in tune with what we're hearing from our members and the customers they work with," said John Venator, president and chief executive officer, CompTIA. "VoIP and related technologies are delivering real business value; security issues and preparedness are top of mind in most organizations today; and RFID adoption is moving from the trial and evaluation stage to full-scale production deployments."
CompTIA, a leading provider of vendor-neutral certifications for individuals in technology professions, currently offers certifications in security and RFID technologies, and is in the process of developing a convergence certification.
http://www.comptia.org
Colombian Logistics Company Deploys Savi Solution
Emprevi, a Colombian logistics and security firm, has deployed an active RFID solution from Savi Technology. The deployment is aimed at providing enhanced visibility and security for cargo as it moves throughout points in Colombia. Emprevi's clients are both importers and exporters working in the Colombian market, some of whom are major multinationals in the pharma, CPG, food and beverage, and 3PL industries.
The Savi solution being deployed is called SmartChain Transportation Security Solution (TSS) and it will be integrated into Emprevi's own service offering portfolio under the title "Global Trade Control". TSS will afford Emprevi clients online visibility into their cargo containers continuously and in real time. Specifically, cargo traveling between the Colombian port of Buenaventura and Emprevi's distribution center in the city of Cali will be monitored.
Savi also announced the release of two innovative sensor tags that reduce spoilage and damage by monitoring the temperature and humidity of military and commercial shipments, including aircraft engines, ammunition, medical supplies, food stuffs, and other perishables vulnerable to environmental conditions as they move through the supply chain.
Earlier this month, leading defense contractor Lockheed Martin agreed to acquire Savi.
http://www.rfidupdate.com/
EPCglobal to Research HF and UHF for Item Tags
The ongoing debate as to whether HF or UHF is the best frequency for item-level RFID tagging moved a step closer to resolution earlier this month when EPCglobal announced the formation of two new standards development working groups: the High Frequency (HF) Air Interface Working Group and the Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) Air Interface Working Group. The former will focus on creating a Gen2 standard of HF, and the latter will work to extend the existing Gen2 capabilities to support the unique security features required by item-level tagging.
This decision is the result of the item-level technology demonstration EPCglobal hosted in late March, which featured 56 demonstrations from 23 hardware vendors. After weeks of analysis based on these demos, EPCglobal determined that no one frequency was the winner. "Try as we might, there was nothing to justify going down to a single frequency," said EPCglobal director of product management Sue Hutchinson. Furthermore, "there was very strong interest in the community for us to look at both [HF and UHF], so that's what we decided to do."
The HF group will work toward developing a Gen2 standard for HF RFID. The new UHF group will consider the particular needs of item-level tagging and how Gen2 can be enhanced to address them.
Currently, Gen2 exists only for UHF, but there is no reason why, in light of potential market demand, it couldn't also exist for HF. "HF is a viable option for certain categories of products in certain types of industries," said Hutchinson. And given that the work that has already gone into developing Gen2, to start from scratch would reinvent the wheel. "We already have a great command set to work from in Gen2," noted Hutchinson, "and we want to use it with HF as well."
http://www.rfidupdate.com/
Wal-Mart Study Results Revised Upwards
Late last year, Bill Hardgrave, founder and director of the University of Arkansas's RFID Research Center, reported that a study of RFID use at Wal-Mart showed a 16 percent reduction in out-of-stocks for tagged items. At this month's RFID Journal LIVE meeting in Las Vegas, Hardgrave said that these original results understated the improvement, which actually is a whopping 30 percent for products selling between 0.1 and 15 units daily. "The preliminary results released late last year were conservative by design in that we did not want to overestimate RFID's impact," said Hardgrave. Since then, the UA team has been analyzing the data further, so the 30 percent reduction is actually "a much better estimate of RFID's true benefit."
The Wal-Mart-commissioned study is being conducted independently by the RFID Research Center, which is a subunit of the Information Technology Research Institute at UA's Sam M. Walton College of Business. The UA team collected the data between February 14 and September 12 of last year from 24 Dallas area Wal-Mart stores, half of which were RFID-enabled, half of which were not. In addition to the reduction in out-of-stocks, the study found that RFID-tagged items were manually reordered 10 percent less and replenished three times faster than non-tagged items, Hardgrave said.
http://www.rfidupdate.com/
Odin Published Reader Benchmark
ODIN Technologies has published its "Generation 2 RFID Reader Benchmark" report, sponsored by Unisys, presenting a detailed analysis of eight of the leading RFID readers.
According to Odin, the benchmark was developed to provide end users with objective insight into how well readers actually work in the field and what criteria should be evaluated when making reader selection decisions. The Benchmark provides a scientific and objective comparison of how Gen 2 RFID readers work in common use cases such as dock doors, conveyors and stretch wrappers and provides detailed insight into which readers simply work best.
"Not all Gen 2 readers are alike," says ODIN Technologies' president and CEO Patrick J. Sweeney. "The ODIN Gen 2 RFID Reader Benchmark cuts through vendor hype and compares readers side by side leveraging scientific methods and the physics of RFID."
The report is available for purchase and download at www.odintechnologies.com.
http://www.usingrfid.com/
Avery Dennison, imobile Offer DOD-Compliance Solutions
Avery Dennison's Retail Information Services (RIS) division is offering a means for suppliers to the Department of Defense to meet the agency's mandate for affixing RFID labels containing unique identification codes to cartons and pallets of military consignments, and for issuing advance ship notices, through an offering called the RFID Military Compliance Solution. RIS provides suppliers with labels that contain an embedded RFID inlays, pre-encode with an Electronic Product Code (EPC) that contains a header, the supplier's Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code and serial number. Suppliers can apply this label, which also has the EPC printed as a bar code and in human-readable characters, to the cases and goods that require RFID tags and which already have DOD-compliant Military Shipping Labels (MSL), which contain destination and other key shipping data. By scanning the bar code or keying in the EPC, suppliers can also meet the DOD's requirements to include each EPC in an advance shipping notice sent to the DOD depot that will receive the goods so that the DOD can verify the received shipment is complete and accurate. RIS is not releasing pricing information, but the offering is available now with minimum orders of 500 labels.
Imobile Systems has also rolled out a similar offering, through which suppliers can purchase pre-encoded RFID smart labels. Like the Avery labels, the imobile labels are applied supplementary to MSL labels on cases and pallets and include both a bar code and a human-readable text version of the EPC. But the imobile labels have three sections so that the bar coded portions can be applied to shipping documentation. The imobile labels are available for 99 cents each, in minimum orders of 100. The Avery labels contain UHF EPC Gen 1 inlays, while the imobile labels use EPC Gen 2 inlays.
http://www.rfidjournal.com
Goodyear Selects Psion Teklogix For RFID Solution
Goodyear Tire is using the Psion Teklogix 7535 with RD7950 UHF RFID Reader along with a software application from CTI, Akron, OH, to track and manage its tires at all three NASCAR top series in 2006, including the Nextel Cup Series, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
With 43 cars at each Nextel Cup race and each car using about 10 sets of tires per race, the task of tracking all of the tires can be challenging and time consuming. Goodyear's goal is to optimize how it tracks the nearly 2,000 tires from manufacturing through distribution to the teams, and then to the final disposition of the tires after each race.
The decision to fully deploy the Psion Teklogix RFID solution at all 2006 races follows Goodyear's successful testing session at the Homestead-Miami Speedway during the 2005 season finale of the Craftsman Truck Series, when Goodyear tires equipped with RFID were raced for the first time.
The new RFID solution enables Goodyear to track all tires with maximum speed and accuracy, allowing tires to be returned at the end of each race in about an hour.
www.psionteklogix.com
Vendors Partner to Equip RFID Reader with Software
OATSystems, IBM and Alien Technology have unveiled the first RFID software applications to be deployed directly on a RFID reader. Specifically, OATxpress 5.0 best practice RFID applications now may be flexibly deployed on any combination of servers and edge controllers and readers. This flexibility is critical to mitigate the risk of locking into a single architectural approach that may not scale past a pilot or may fail to address the requirements of various RFID-centric business processes.
Alien Technology's ALR-9800 is the first RFID reader to be validated for OATxpress 5.0 deployments by leveraging IBM's WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure (WRDI). WRDI provides a standards-based, embedded environment for deploying distributed applications directly on readers and edge controllers.
“This is a major milestone for the RFID industry,” said Scott Burroughs, Solutions Executive for IBM's Sensor & Actuator Solutions group “For the first time, end users can deploy RFID software applications to enterprise-class intelligent RFID readers. This greatly simplifies implementation and ongoing management - enabling users to more easily innovate and implement distributed business processes that provide the key to maximizing the power of RFID technology to drive real ROI, on top of IT class middleware.”
RFID applications deployed directly on readers (application readers) are well suited to address use cases with local operational events that require rapid sense and respond actions such as pallet verification, shipping, conveyor routing, receiving and many more. The OAT-Alien application reader enables real-time business processes while simplifying implementation, ongoing management and reducing bandwidth requirements. OATxpress applications may be remotely provisioned to the ALR-9800 reader with no manual configuration required and the browser-based, user interface may run directly on the reader reducing network dependency for operation.
“The deployment of OATxpress 5.0 applications on the reader now brings business logic to the edge of the RFID network, enabling real-time, local response to data, and the inherent reliability and efficiency of a distributed system,” said Susan Pearson, VP Alliances, Alien Technology.
http://www.oatsystems.com
RedPrairie Delivers Three-Day Implementation of Automated RFID Solution at Ocean Spray
RedPrairie Corp. recently completed a three-day implementation of an automated RFID labelling system at Ocean Spray's facility in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Ocean Spray put the RFID solution in place to meet retailer compliance requirements.
Ocean Spray, North America's leading producer of canned and bottled juices and juice drinks, uses the system in a post manufacturing set-up, tagging cases of juice products. Labels are affixed to cases running on a conveyor retrofitted with a Weber Print Applicator. The cases are then palletized and shipped to several Texas based Wal-Mart distribution centers. The company plans to use the data for improved Deduction Management to verify, manage and improve production; and for Promotion Management to determine effectiveness of promotional campaigns and develop guidelines for volume production for campaigns through sales history analysis, according to Ed Mahoney, Ocean Spray Project Manager.
http://www.RedPrairie.com
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