RFID file-tracking systems make sense for companies that need to track the whereabouts of tens of thousands of files that are constantly being accessed and moved around an office by employees. Time-management studies may show that employees waste hundreds of billable hours searching for missing files, or companies may just sense they have a problem. The district attorney's office in Marin County, Calif., knew its manual file-tracking system was failing when staff members began to receive multiple e-mails from colleagues searching for specific case files. "We were getting them five or six times a day," says York Westgate, the D.A.'s technology support analyst, "and we estimated that all those e-mails consumed the equivalent of one and a half full-time employees' time." Since the D.A.'s office deployed 3M's file-tracking system three years ago, Westgate says, it now receives only one or two e-mails per week.

FileTrail recently upgraded its system to make it more efficient. It had been identifying files with high-frequency passive RFID tags, which required that the files be 8 inches or less from a reader's antenna (3M and Tagsys also use HF passive tags). That read range was sufficient for tracking files at close range, on shelves and desks, but the HF system often failed to read tagged files when employees removed them from the file room. That's because the RFID antennas installed around the doorway could not read the tagged files if employees held them under their arms or tucked them into briefcases.

FileTrail now uses EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency tags, which have a read of range more than 20 feet. The system also enables employees to locate a file to within a desktop. And a mapping tool lets employees input a specific file number and then navigate a digital floor plan of the office to see the file's location and the name of the person who last checked it out.

Tom Pemberton, FileTrail's vice president of product strategy, says the longer read range isn't the only compelling factor behind UHF technology—the UHF tags he sells cost 35 cents each, whereas HF tags for file tracking typically cost from 75 cents to $1.40 each. And UHF readers now cost less than HF readers. While it's not cost-efficient for some companies to switch their HF systems to UHF ones, says Pemberton, FileTrail is now using UHF in all its new installments. The Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Md., for example, installed the UHF system in August 2006 to track files for some 30,000 to 40,000 cases annually.

Who's Who in RFID File Tracking
• 3M
• Checkpoint Systems
• FileTrail
• Tagsys