AmerisourceBergen to Conduct HF/UHF RFID Pilot

AmerisourceBergen will use IBM's RFID System for Pharmaceutical Track and Trace to capture RFID data, and to manage the EPCIS database, as well. The WebSphere RFID Premises Server acts as middleware for the system and will pass RFID data from the interrogators deployed at receiving and shipping points to IBM's EPCIS-compliant repository, allowing AmerisourceBergen to manage its data and share it with drug manufacturers and retailers.

The company plans to utilize IBM's WebSphere Premises Server and intelligent readers embedded with IBM's WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure. IBM released the Track and Trace system in August 2006 (see IBM Markets RFID Suite for Tracking Drugs). Currently, says Chris Clauss, a sensor-network executive at IBM Software Group, the drug distribution firm Cardinal Health is using the system.

"This will be the first step in evaluating the technology available and determining how we can deploy that technology in future steps," Reid says.

AmerisourceBergen chose to pilot the program at its Sacramento distribution center, which averages $2 billion to $4 billion worth of pharmaceutical products annually. The state of California recently passed SB 1476, a drug-pedigree law requiring manufacturers to start an electronic chain of custody throughout the supply chain to the retailer by 2008. The company intends to expand the RFID system to its two other DCs in California before that date.

In phase 2 of the program, slated for later in 2007, AmerisourceBergen plans to work to enable its manufacturing and retailing business partners to query and share RFID data across multiple EPCIS systems. Clauss says the system is designed for flexibility and speed. "We will be able to provide software infrastructure, information management and information sharing for tracking drugs while maintaining line speed," he says. "We're trying to do this without slowing operations down."