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Part 3: RFID in Healthcare
Attaining Low Cost of Ownership
Figure 4 shows an overview of the EPC Global proposed architecture and various stages of interaction with other systems. One of the major challenges faced on the ONS and EPC IS specifications is security. Security becomes a major concern when unknown vendors and competitors look at information that can expose your company. With the EPC network in place, the information about the product will be on a network that can be accessible by unauthorized vendors. This can become a threat if competitors get information about your products at every level in the supply chain. Currently EPC Global is addressing this issue by taking various parameters into consideration.
Dynamic ONS defined in Figure 4 will give a list of the pointers (locations) where EPC (product) has been to date. Information about each product can be obtained from the product’s manufacturer’s database. Once the product moves to the next level in the supply chain—for example, from the manufacturer to wholesaler—and if there is more information added by the wholesaler at the next level, there will be one more EPC IS at the wholesaler level. The information about the product can then be obtained from the supplier as well as the manufacturer. If proper security aspects are not implemented, competitors could have total access (in a total trusting environment) concerning any product and they could gain an unfair competitive advantage.
As explained in the Figure 5 below, the authors envisage the involvement of multiple vendors having their enterprise systems RF-enabled. The authors here try to abide by the definition of LCO (low cost of ownership) giving security and an “easy trust” mechanism for vendors at each level.
Low cost of ownership: Postulate
Figure 5 depicts that a vendor at any level can access only the EPC-IS of his direct supplier. The existing model suggests the data from the manufacturers EPC-IS is exposed to others in the supply chain. With the ability to only link to one’s direct supplier. This security limitation will prevent a lot of negative impact on the usage of RFID enabled systems on the network.
Click here to enlarge image.
Figure 5 shows three organizations in the supply chain. The flow of the product from Organization1 to Organization 3 is through Organization 2. At each stage, the owner of the product and the products information is updated in the ONS (a pointer to the information about the what and where the product is), and each organization has its own EPC IS for exposing a variety of information pertaining to the item. Users can get the information in the Physical Markup Language format by querying the EPC IS. Further, if Organization 3 requires any information pertaining to this item, it will need only to contact Organization 2. If Organization 2 has that information, it will pass it along or else it will contact Organization 1. This ensures security of Organization 1’s product information so that Organization 1 does not have to worry about who is accessing its EPC IS and about what information is being sent to a party that Organization 1 doesn’t know, as long as there is an understanding trust agreement between Organization 1 and Organization 2. When the authors were discussing this scenario, optimization of information flow and the degree of trust as well as accountability to sharing that information were issues that were a major concern in developing this model.
We feel we have offered one viable solution to these trust and accountability problems. It was also noted that with the increase in the number of lookups, EPC IS performance might get affected. To get a work-around, one would need to implement caching of data in an efficient manner.
Another area where the ownership cost can be reduced will be to use systems that are globally accepted. This includes the systems that are based on open standards and are open-sourced. Using open standards and open source will reduce the risk as well as Integration costs when multiple systems from multiple suppliers are involved, as we see in the next section.
Standards and Source: Open and Governed
Open standards begin when a there is a unified collaboration of interested parties. This collaboration results in agreeing on specifications for implementing common requirements, i.e., open standards. This has happened at the Auto-ID Center and its successor, EPCglobal, which has promoted the development of open standards concerning automatic identification using radio frequency within the supply chain. These standards involve the reader protocol, EPS IS, ONS and PML standards that define the communication between entities of the supply chain. Using open standards endorses a commonly understood language across supply chain implementations of RFID. The choice to use open standards over the alternatives like proprietary standards and systems can improve one's ability to realize common objectives.
Figure 4 shows an overview of the EPC Global proposed architecture and various stages of interaction with other systems. One of the major challenges faced on the ONS and EPC IS specifications is security. Security becomes a major concern when unknown vendors and competitors look at information that can expose your company. With the EPC network in place, the information about the product will be on a network that can be accessible by unauthorized vendors. This can become a threat if competitors get information about your products at every level in the supply chain. Currently EPC Global is addressing this issue by taking various parameters into consideration.
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Dynamic ONS defined in Figure 4 will give a list of the pointers (locations) where EPC (product) has been to date. Information about each product can be obtained from the product’s manufacturer’s database. Once the product moves to the next level in the supply chain—for example, from the manufacturer to wholesaler—and if there is more information added by the wholesaler at the next level, there will be one more EPC IS at the wholesaler level. The information about the product can then be obtained from the supplier as well as the manufacturer. If proper security aspects are not implemented, competitors could have total access (in a total trusting environment) concerning any product and they could gain an unfair competitive advantage.
As explained in the Figure 5 below, the authors envisage the involvement of multiple vendors having their enterprise systems RF-enabled. The authors here try to abide by the definition of LCO (low cost of ownership) giving security and an “easy trust” mechanism for vendors at each level.
Low cost of ownership: Postulate
Figure 5 depicts that a vendor at any level can access only the EPC-IS of his direct supplier. The existing model suggests the data from the manufacturers EPC-IS is exposed to others in the supply chain. With the ability to only link to one’s direct supplier. This security limitation will prevent a lot of negative impact on the usage of RFID enabled systems on the network.
|
Click here to enlarge image.
Figure 5 shows three organizations in the supply chain. The flow of the product from Organization1 to Organization 3 is through Organization 2. At each stage, the owner of the product and the products information is updated in the ONS (a pointer to the information about the what and where the product is), and each organization has its own EPC IS for exposing a variety of information pertaining to the item. Users can get the information in the Physical Markup Language format by querying the EPC IS. Further, if Organization 3 requires any information pertaining to this item, it will need only to contact Organization 2. If Organization 2 has that information, it will pass it along or else it will contact Organization 1. This ensures security of Organization 1’s product information so that Organization 1 does not have to worry about who is accessing its EPC IS and about what information is being sent to a party that Organization 1 doesn’t know, as long as there is an understanding trust agreement between Organization 1 and Organization 2. When the authors were discussing this scenario, optimization of information flow and the degree of trust as well as accountability to sharing that information were issues that were a major concern in developing this model.
We feel we have offered one viable solution to these trust and accountability problems. It was also noted that with the increase in the number of lookups, EPC IS performance might get affected. To get a work-around, one would need to implement caching of data in an efficient manner.
Another area where the ownership cost can be reduced will be to use systems that are globally accepted. This includes the systems that are based on open standards and are open-sourced. Using open standards and open source will reduce the risk as well as Integration costs when multiple systems from multiple suppliers are involved, as we see in the next section.
Standards and Source: Open and Governed
Open standards begin when a there is a unified collaboration of interested parties. This collaboration results in agreeing on specifications for implementing common requirements, i.e., open standards. This has happened at the Auto-ID Center and its successor, EPCglobal, which has promoted the development of open standards concerning automatic identification using radio frequency within the supply chain. These standards involve the reader protocol, EPS IS, ONS and PML standards that define the communication between entities of the supply chain. Using open standards endorses a commonly understood language across supply chain implementations of RFID. The choice to use open standards over the alternatives like proprietary standards and systems can improve one's ability to realize common objectives.
