Mar 03, 2006The following are news announcements made during the week of Feb. 27.
TrueDemand Releases Forecasting Tool
Los Gatos, Calf.-based TrueDemand Software has announced the release of the TrueDemand Forecasting & Replenishment Suite, the software application that it has been developing and testing for the past 18 months. The company’s flagship application is designed to give retailers and manufacturers more visibility into the movement and sales of goods--tracked at the pallet, case or item level via RFID tags. It provides near-term demand forecasting, which can help supply chain partners reduce instances of product out-of-stocks and also decrease the need for safety stocks (see Software Startup Mines RFID’s Value). The application does this by pulling data from warehouse and transportation management systems and RFID middleware and combining it with point-of-sale (POS) system data, in order to generate short-term demand forecasts and automated alerts that supply chain partners can act upon quickly. “The application provides one view of available inventory and one view of demand” and combines them, says TrueDemand CEO Eric Peters. “POS data is not an indicator of true demand. It reflects the demand for what you sold, but if you were out of stock for half a day on something, the demand for that is not reflected in the POS data,” says Peters. TrueDemand is partnering with VeriSign to pull RFID read data from the end users’ EPC Information Service platform (see TrueDemand, VeriSign to Enable EPC App). Peters says the TrueDemand application also interfaces with IBM’s WebSphere middleware, through which it can pull information about goods, whether RFID-tagged or bar coded, as they move between manufactures, distributors and retailers. Right now, the application is built for integration into SAP’s enterprise resource planning platform. Pricing information has not been released.
Identec Solutions Releases New Rugged Tag
Identec Solutions has released the i Q8R, a new, ruggedized tag for applications involving high temperatures or other extreme conditions. The battery-powered UHF tag, which can be read from as great as 100 meters and can store 8 kilobytes of data (with an optional version that holds 32 KB), can withstand temperatures as high 185 degrees Celsius, and can operate at temperatures as high as 120 degrees. The new tag is markedly more heat-resistant than Identec Solution's older i-Q8 tags, which can withstand up to 85 degrees. Identec Solutions says the i-Q8R is encapsulated in an extremely durable casing that makes the tag impervious to moisture and shock. It can survive multiple drops from a height of up 30 feet onto concrete. The tag is designed for rugged manufacturing applications such as automotive work-in-progress tracking, and features a high-powered LED that makes its visible from 360 degrees--from any side with any tag orientation. The i-Q8R is available now.
RFIP Launches Online RFID Shop for U.K. Customers
U.K.-based RFIP, an RFID services firm and RFID hardware reseller, has launched an online RFID resource, The RFID Shop. The site is designed for U.K.-based small to midsize businesses and RFID system integrators looking for RFID interrogators, antennas, tags, system components and printer-encoders. Goods from RFID technology vendors ACG, Caen, In2Connect, iPico, Magellan Technology, MaxID, Poynting Antennas, ScanSource, SmartID, Texas Instruments RFID and X-Ident are available on the site.
GlobeRanger Expanding Reach
Richardson, Texas-based RFID middleware provider GlobeRanger has announced a number of partnerships. SSA Global, which sells enterprise resource planning software and supply chain management software to a wide range of industries, Ross Systems, a maker of process manufacturing software for the food and health-care industries, and Atos Origin, an IT services firm whose clients include the Olympic Games, will each develop and deliver RFID applications based on GlobeRanger’s iMotion Edgeware RFID device management platform. In addition, IDentiTRAK Technologies, a provider of automatic identification and EPC technology solutions, has launched MASTERlink Edge, a suite of RFID-enabled software solutions built on GlobeRanger’s iMotion platform. IDentiTRAK recently opened a demonstration center in Knoxville, Tenn., to provide RFID testing services and to highlight the MASTERlink suite, which lets users manage RFID devices, filter and collect EPC data, comply with tagging mandates and automate business processes around RFID-enabled product tracking.
Dublin, Calif.-based business software vendor Sybase has upgraded its RFID middleware platform, RFID Enterprise, to version 2.0. The platform, which was launched last year with version 1.0, now features a business process and rules engine built in J2EE, which makes it easier for users to integrate the platform with other Java-based business software. Also, the tools that enable users to establish the business process they will use to handle RFID data is now written in Sun Microsystem’s Java-based Eclipse platform, a environment designed to make custom application design easier. RFID Enterprise version 2.0 also includes enhancements to its database, including a newly patented query process designed to improve performance and support for XML. The software is available now; pricing information has not been released.
ADT Euro Test Center Gains EPCglobal Accreditation
EPCglobal has awarded its Performance Test Center accreditation mark to ADT European RFID Performance Lab, based in Echt, the Netherlands. The mark signifies that the lab meets EPCglobal’s test center criteria laid out it the EPCglobal Global Certification and Accreditation Program, such as using a standard set of performance test profiles to simulate real-world conditions in testing the readability of EPC tags placed on end-user products. Adopters of RFID technology can use the ADT center to evaluate the performance of various tags on pallets, cases and individual consumer or commercial products. They also might evaluate the effectiveness of various readers and other RFID hardware, such as printer-encoders and antennas.
Label Maker Demos Clipped Smart Label
As an alternative to decommissioning inlays embedded in products at the point of purchase, in order to addresses consumer privacy concerns, two IBM researchers last November said they had devised a means of drastically reducing the read range of passive RFID inlays without rendering the inlay inoperable (see IBM Proposes Privacy-Protecting Tag). Marnlen, an Ontario-based manufacture of pressure sensitive labels, through its newly launched RFID label converting business unit, Marnlen RFID, has developed a prototype version of a smart label based on the design, which IBM dubbed the clipped tag. Rod Coward, Marnlen RFID’s research and development manager, says he made the clipped tag smart label for demonstration purposes, but that Marnlen RFID could make the label commercially available if it is able to work out an agreement with IBM, which has filed a patent on the design. Meanwhile, Marnlen RFID recently began converting EPC Gen 2 UHF inlays into non-clipped shipping labels in standard shipping sizes (4 inches by 6 inches, 4 inches by 4 inches and 4 inches by 2 inches) and in a variety of substrates and finishes. Marnlen RFID is sourcing its Gen 2 inlays from Alien, UPM Raflatac and TI-RFiD. It verifies the functioning of all labels it sells before shipping them to customers. The company says it can convert the inlays into smart labels at a rate of 250 feet per minute.
Cisco, RedPrairie Collaborate with Intermec on Forklift System
Internet networking firm Cisco Systems and supply chain software provider RedPrairie have joined RFID hardware manufacturer Intermec and material handling equipment maker Cascade in the development of an RFID-enabled forklift. The prototype vehicle, which Intermec first unveiled at its Global Partner Conference last month (see Intermec, Cascade Building RFID into Forklift Trucks), has an integrated Intermec RFID interrogator. Through the Cisco and RedPrairie partnership, the RFID-enabled forklift will also have network connectivity and integration into RedPrairie's open Mobile Resource Management software, which will link the mobile interrogator into RedPrairie’s legacy software systems, including warehouse-management, yard-management, labor-planning and asset-management applications. With the complete system, drivers will be able to read and encode RFID tags without leaving their vehicles, and managers will receive real-time data on vehicle locations and activity, using the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance, which provides location tracking for devices on a Cisco 802.11 wireless network.
