RFID News Roundup

Loftware Upgrades RFID Support
Loftware, a bar code and RFID label printing-encoding solutions provider based in York, Maine, has announced version 8.4 of its Loftware Print Server (LPS) software, a bar code scanner and RFID interrogator device management and data integration tool. Earlier versions of the LPS software could be used to encode EPCs to RFID smart labels generated by printer-encoders from Avery Dennison, Datamax, IBM, Intermec, Paxar, Printronix and Zebra Technologies. Version 8.4 can also be linked to RFID interrogators created by Alien Technology, Symbol Technologies, ThingMagic and AWID, and be used to verify that the RFID tag data collected by these interrogators is accurate and complies with the requirements of tagging mandates from retailers or the U.S. Department of Defense. In addition, Loftware claims, the newest version of LPS can be linked, through XML code strings, to most major enterprise resource management platforms and warehouse management software. Using these integration tools, end users can add the electronic product codes (EPCs) commissioned to RFID tags to the advance shipment notices sent to the parties receiving the tagged goods, so that the EPCs can be used to verify the shipments. The RFID Premier Version, which supports up to 10 bar code scanners and five RFID interrogators, is available for $6,995;the RFID Starter Version, which supports just one bar code scanner and one RFID interrogator, for $1,995. Existing Loftware customers already running an earlier version of the LPS without RFID support can add the RFID Module for $1,000. Current customers using a prior version of the RFID Premier version 8.3 or earlier can upgrade to version 8.4 for free.

BlueBean Selling RFID Startup Kits
RFID systems integrator BlueBean says it is offering do-it-yourself RFID development lab kits designed for small-scale RFID deployments for commercial, laboratory or academic applications. The kits include an interrogator (either the Alien 9800 interrogator or the Symbol XR400 interrogator), as well as antennas, cables and a wheeled portal structure accommodating the reader and antennas. The kit, customizable to support status lights, electronic eyes and material-handling controllers linked to the interrogator, is available for purchase at RFIDSupplyChain.com. Pricing begins at $4,596 for the kit with the Alien interrogator, and at $4,992 for the kit with the Symbol interrogator. BlueBean also offers RFID software customized for end users needing to comply with tagging mandates, or to receive or ship tagged products.

SAP Green-Lights iMotion Integration
Richardson, Texas, RFID device management and middleware software provider GlobeRanger reports that enterprise software creator SAP has certified the GlobeRanger iMotion Edgeware platform as a tool that can be successfully integrated with SAP's Auto-ID Infrastructure component of the SAP NetWeaver platform. NetWeaver powers many of SAP's solutions for RFID. Pete Poorman, GlobeRanger's director of product management, says the certification signifies that SAP has tested the integration links between iMotion and SAP's platforms. Though GlobeRanger had successfully integrated iMotion with SAP platforms in the past, he notes that the certification "removes hurdles" that might keep an SAP software user from purchasing iMotion. "In some cases," he says, "end users won't buy any software unless it is SAP-certified."

Ingram Micro's Nimax to Distribute Stratum's TagNet
Littleton, Colo., RFID solution provider Stratum Global says it has entered into a distribution agreement with technology distributor Ingram Micro. As part of this program, Ingram Micro will distribute—through its Nimax division, which distributes automated data collection, RFID and point-of-sale solutions—the Stratum Global TagNet RFID device and tag data management software. According to a Nimax spokesperson, Ingram Micro signed the agreement to provide its customers end-to-end solutions. Nimax also distributes RFID hardware from tag and interrogator manufacturer Symbol Technologies and RFID label printer-encoder supplier Zebra Technologies.