RFID Summary

NFC Public Presence To Increase

2006-11-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a term that is used mostly within the RFID industry, but there's a plan [Contactless News] to let the public know more about the technology. The first step has been to conduct numerous trials in a number of countries, including the USA, where trials have included NFC payment options for sports fans at stadiums and transit fare payment for passengers. These options have been in the form NFC-enabled cell phones, wristbands, and cards. The phones used in some of the trials have been from Nokia, a company that recently bought an RFID technology manufacturer.

Crown Equipment: RFID-Enabled Tool Crib

2006-10-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

Crown Equipment, a winner of over 50 product design awards, is using RFID to maintain a 24/7 tool crib for their employees. Under the system, employees can sign out equipment at any time during their shift. The equipment crib no longer needs someone assigned to it 24 hours a day, just a few short shifts for restocking tools. The soft costs include reduced labor costs, less downtime, improved productivity, and more [via Reliable Plant]

Applying The Smart(card)s

2006-09-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Robert Brandewie, a former US defence director, gave a talk in Australia about smartcards. Brandewie is a former director of the Defense Manpower Data Centre, which provides info services to US DoD's military personnel, employees and contractors. Under that role, he oversaw the implementation of 11 million smartcards. Australia is implementing smartcards that will tie their Medicare and other programs, at a cost of Aus$1B over two years, and Australian Minister for Human Services was being briefed by Brandewie. [via Computer World Australia]

Printronix To Train RFID Solutions Providers

2006-09-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

Printronix Inc., who are involved radio frequency printer solutions, etc., are promoting a new training program, RFID Edge. Under the program, Printronix would train and support solutions providers. The week-long program is endorsed by "12 prominent RFID manufacturers", so I assume training would not be Printronix-specific. [via RFID Solutions]

Given the shortage of skilled workers in the industry, and a dearth of college and university programs (at least in the US), this sounds like a good alternative. Hopefully more vendors will consider adding programs, maybe as a collective. If they don't approach colleges and universities to set up degree programs.

Why Wal-Mart Suppliers' RFID Reluctance?

2006-09-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

IT Jungle points out an interesting tidbit of information about Wal-Mart's suppliers: they are mostly "OS/400 shops". OS/400 is related to AS/400, an IBM mainframe computer operating system for which it's actually difficult to find programmers. As I understand it, "real programmers" wouldn't take a job in AS/400. Then again, AS/400 shops, in my experience, tend to be extremely fussy about who they hire as programmers. Not sure, but if OS/400 shops are the same way, it might actually account for why the IT departments of Wal-Mart suppliers are so reluctant to move forward with RFID.

I'm only speculating, but if you are the IT director of your company and you have a hard enough time finding staff for your current technology, then your boss comes along telling you that the biggest client wants them to convert to RFID tracking, for supply chain management... Well, I can see how some directors may feel some reluctance, especially in a new arena such as RFID. And if this is indeed the case, maybe all it would take is a few more pep talks by Wal-Mart, before a supplier enters the actual conversion process. Just some thoughts.

Savi Technology Wins RFID Innovation Award

2006-09-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

Frost & Sullivan have presented their Product Innovation Award, in the RFID supply chain market, to Savi Technology. Savi, a division of Lockheed-Martin, has been focused on solutions for managing military consigments for coalition defense forces. Their solutions are able to capture data from several technologies including bar codes, sensors, passive and active RFID, and GPS. [via Sys-Con] One of Savi Technology's many gigs was with the Spanish Armed Forces earlier this year.

RFID Teamups: TraceAll and Symbol

2006-09-15T12:30:00.000-04:00

TraceAll and Symbol have teamed up to offer solutions for companies that have to comply with food safety requirements by tracking ingredients throughout the supply chain. The solution will use TraceAll's Traceability software and Symbol's RFID readers. A few select European countries will be part of the first phase. [via Food Production Daily]

RFID Acquisitions: FSBO To Acquire TOTALtrak

2006-09-15T12:15:00.000-04:00

FSBO Media Holdings (FSMH) plans to acquire TOTALtrak's business product line. The latter company makes a variety of technologies, most of which are focused on law enforcement, security and defense applications. The product line will be marketed to the military by Presidential Holdings, a military/ defense consulting company which FMSH acquired last week. [via Yahoo Biz/ Finance]

RFID Acquisitions: Avery Dennison Buys RF IDentics

2006-09-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Label-maker and office products company Avery-Dennison announced the purchase of RF IDentics, as well as the start of some RFID initiatives. The company, who has been involved in RFID for several years, is the only one in the industry to have a high-speed RFID inlay production process, achieving speeds of over ten times that of competitors. [via RFID Solutions Online]

Eco-Safe RFID Inlays?

2006-09-11T12:45:00.000-04:00

Omron RFID is purportedly using aluminum in their HF (High Frequency) RFID inlays due to customer complaints about their copper inlays - particularly in regards to environmental issues. Omron will continue to manufacture copper RFID inlays as well. [More RFID via RFID Blog]

RFID Plane Tickets

2006-09-11T12:15:00.000-04:00

British researchers are working on plane tickets with RFID tags to track passengers in airports. The tags would be used in combination with CCTV cameras and would help facilitate boarding, especially for large airplanes. Funding for the project is from the European Union. [IT Week UK via RFID Blog] Other modes of transport using RFID for security applications includes railways.

RFID Smart Card Voting In Swedish Parliament

2006-09-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Swedish parliament has introduced a secure RFID-based voting system for their 349 members. Under the old system, secure voting could only take place if a member of parliament voted from their designated seat, for a given session in legislature. Under the new system, members use contactless ID cards and can cast votes from any seat. RFID readers record votes, and the voting process becomes considerably faster. [More RFID via RFID Blog] The contactless cards had already been issued to members of parliament before the advent of the new voting system.

This is obviously an application that could spread to parliaments all around the world. But seriously, when it comes to politics, if someone is powerful enough, how hard would it be for them to jack the voting results? Oh yeah, maybe these politicians need some way to protect their smartcards, to guard against unauthorized interception of card data.

Advanta Bank Launches Contactless MasterCard

2006-09-01T22:15:00.000-04:00

Advanta Bank in the US has launched their own MasterCard PayPass-based contactless credit card for businesses. [via Using RFID]

Amtrak Rail To Get RFID Security System

2006-09-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Amtrak Rail announced that an RFID pilot project for rail security would involve Florida-based Duos Technologies, Inc. Under the contract, Duos would be designing, manufacturing and installing the security system. [via RFID News]

A Few Consumer Products With Item-Level RFID Tags

2006-09-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

Spychips has a list of products from Procter & Gamble and subsihdiaries that do or might have item-level RFID tags. Spychips currently has a boycott against P&G's recently acquired Gillette subsidiary, but not against P&G. [via Spychips RFID Blog]

Slow-Baked RFID System

2006-09-01T21:30:00.000-04:00

While most companies using RFID today only switched within the last 2-3 years, a German bakery has successfully been using the technology since 1998 to track mixing bowls during the mixing process, to ensure the correct ratio of ingredients. [via RFID Journal]

Logistics: Schenker Tests RFID

2006-08-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

RFID is a core element for the future of manufacturing logistics, and more companies are moving towards implementing the technology for supply chain management and inventory control, amongst other uses. Schenker, a global logistics company and subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, is doing a test run on RFID on ten of their service containers. Currently, the containers travel between Hamburg, Germany and Hong Kong. Future plans include electronic seals, using RFID, to document container access. [via Food Production Daily]

Taiwan To Invest Money To Promote RFID

2006-08-31T12:15:00.000-04:00

Speaking of money, the Taiwanese government is planning to spend over NT$2 B to promote RFID. The industry there is expected to be worth around NT$70 B by 2013. [via DigiTimes Systems] Taiwan has been proactive in testing new technologies. Earlier this year, Taipei City's government announced a municipal Wi-Fi project for government workers and others to use up to 200,000 wireless VoIP phones by the end of the year.

Need Money For Your RFID-Related Business?

2006-08-31T11:58:00.000-04:00

IDTechEx is offering free help in hooking up RFID-related businesses, including printed electronics and smart packaging, with VC (Venture Capitalists) who want to invest in the industry. Get more details from IDTechEx. They also have a report that can be purchased about RFID and how to raise funds, etc. There are free sample pages (PDF), an overview (PDF), and a listing of the table of contents.

Reusable Container Market's Use of RFID Growing

2006-08-22T22:30:00.000-04:00

RFID use in the reusable container market is expected to grow, and a trial is being conducted by the Reusable Pallet & Container Coalition (RPCC). Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target tend to use reusable pallets and containers in their supply chain, and their preferred means of tracking assets is with RFID technology. The study is being conducted to see what type of multi-use RFID tags can withstand long-term reuse. [via RFID Watch Weekly]

Besides RPCC, other testing of RFID-enabled reusable pallets are being conducted by iGPS, Intelligent Global Pooling Systems. iGPS entered an agreement with Schoeller Arca Systems. The latter will manufacture several million reusable all-plastic pallets to iGPS's specifications. The resulting pallets weigh under 50 pounds and handle over one empirical ton of material. They can be used for a variety of industries, which is likely to make iGPS a busy company. [via RFID Solutions Online]

RFID Summary - Aug 22/06

2006-08-22T21:44:00.000-04:00

Infant products manufacturer Peg Perego USA has contracted Northern Apex Corp. to install its RFID technology in Perego's manufacturing and shipping facilities at their Indiana location(s). [via Inside INdiana Business]

SATO American and ThingMagic are partnering to combine their collective RFID experience. Together, SATO's label printers and ThingMagic's readers are expected to serve a wider base of customers. [via Textile Fashion News]

The NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) in the Philippines has published their guidelines (PDF, 4 pages)on the use of radio frequency technology. RFID equipment must operate within three frequency bands, and suppliers have to register with the NTC. [via INQ7]

RFID Summary - Fri Aug 18/06

2006-08-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

SmartCode has set up an RFID manufacturing plant in Chicago, it's largest of all operations. The plant will produce EPC-based products, for use by companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. [via RFID Blog]

Cattle owners in Texas have managed to recover over 5000 cattle, from rustlers, due to the RFID tags used on each animal. [via RFID Blog]

Concerns over the security of the new RFID-enabled ePassport has been a boon for security providers such as Smartrac, whose revenues doubled in Q1+Q2 2006, compared 2005. [via RFID News]

Impinj's Improved RFID Gen2 Chips

2006-08-18T22:00:00.000-04:00

Impinj, once the only Gen2 RFID chip manufacturer, now has increased competition. However, having been the company that helped draft Gen2 standards, they are way ahead of the new Gen2 manufacturers such as STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Philips.

Now Impinj has stepped even further ahead with new RFID Gen2 chips, Monza/ID and Monaco/64, that have better data storage features, including user-programmable memory.

RFID Companies Focusing On RTLS

2006-08-18T21:30:00.000-04:00

RTLS (Real-Time Location System) solutions seem to be the hot thing in the RFID industry. RF Code is offering the TAVIS platform for tracking high-value assets and people. [via RFID News]

Because RFID-based asset management is seen by a number of large companies as a way to cut down on losses, RTLS is expected to a hot industry. So hot, in fact, that companies in the RFID industry are even giving up their existing radio frequency activities to develop and market RTLS systems.

More RFID Industry Partnerships Forming

2006-08-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

More companies in the RFID industry are partnering up to offer solutions jointly to customers. Partnering for companies includes co-marketing. The expectation is that partnerships increase the likelihood of customers for a given company. [via RFID News]

The other reason for this increased trend is to reduce the cost of RFID projects, which have been prohibitive for some clients. Personally, I still think that developing a single RFID chip standard will go a long way towards doing that.