DOD Seeks New Active-Tag Suppliers

Gartner analyst Jeff Woods says Savi currently remains the primary, if not only, provider of active 433 MHz ISO 18000-7-compliant RFID tags and readers. In August, the company launched a licensing program for its intellectual property, based on the ISO 18000-7 standard, to help other companies comply with DOD specifications (see Savi Announces IP Licensing Program for Active RFID Tags . Savi has declined to provide the specifics of this program, saying it will announce the suppliers registered in the program in the near future.

According to Savi, RFID suppliers such as ACC Systems, Quest Solutions, RF Code, RFID Inc. and SmartCode all build equipment operational at 433.92 MHz. These firms would need to license the rights to three patents from Savi to meet DOD compliance requirements. These patents include anticollision algorithms enabling readers to capture information from multiple tags without data colliding. The ISO 18000-7 standard, based on Savi's patents, assists in reading and recognizing information on a group of RFID tags quickly and accurately.

Savi CEO Bob Kramer describes the ISO 18000-7 standard as an "air-interface protocol specification" for the way data transmits from a tag to a reader. "The technical aspects revolve around waveform, bandwidth and language used to communicate between the tag and the reader," he says.

Analysts say the DOD's request for information invites healthy competition. If more suppliers were to offer ISO 18000-7-compliant equipment, "prices [for active 433.92-MHz tags and interrogators] would drop like a rock and open the competitive landscape for companies thinking about developing the technology, " says Ann Grackin, CEO at ChainLink Research. "The government doesn't want to be like most big buyers, overly reliant on one supplier."

Opening the market to numerous suppliers would likely spur competition and prompt prices on tags, integrators and other RFID equipment to decline. According to ABI Research director Michael Liard, issuing the RFI also opens doors for international companies to penetrate the lucrative U.S. and allied military-defense markets. "ISO 18000-7 appears to be becoming the international standard for active RFID, as indicated by recent support for it from China, South Korea, Taiwan and nearly all other major trading countries," he says. (See China Endorses ISO 18000-7 433 MHz Standard.)