Ford World Rally Team Uses RFID-Enabled DVDs for VIP Tickets

This is the first application for CDA Datentraeger and Brooks. The two companies, together with Eventixx, are now marketing the solution to other end-users, such as football clubs and exhibition coordinators. The disc manufacturer currently uses high-frequency (HF) tags because the antennas used in ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) tags do not fit properly in the disk form factor. However, Janssen says, UPM Raflatac is working with CDA Datentraeger to create a Gen 2 UHF tag that would fit in a CD or DVD. "I am confident that we will have it by next year," he says. A UHF tag would allow a much longer read range.

CDA provided 500 optical disc tickets for the Ford World Rally event in August. Next year, the team may again distribute disc tickets, though details have not yet been decided. According to Janssen, the disc manufacturer has created a semi-automatic process to embed the tags in optical discs.

For Ford World Rally, the RFID-enabled tickets also provide a defense against counterfeiting, since the RFID and disc components make them impossible to replicate. "Currently," Setz notes, "organizers see, in the Eventixx RFID ticket, the first instrument to proceed against the black market."

Additionally, Eventixx is entering into negotiations with several ski resorts in the Alps, Setz adds, to provide lift tickets in the form of a DVD containing an embedded RFID tag. The RFID tag would provide access control to the lifts, while the DVD could include details about accommodations, events and special videos the ticket holder could watch at home.

"During the rally, we determined that the Eventixx RFID disc changes the primary meaning from a 'normal' ticket to a collector's item," Setz states. "This was amazing for us to see."