Oct 20, 2006Product news from the exhibit hall of EPCglobal US's annual conference, held Oct. 16 to 19 in Los Angeles, reflects a growing focus on item-level tagging and on the standardized software that could enable diverse RFID interrogators to easily communicate with middleware and for middleware platforms to interoperate. With prominent end users such as Procter & Gamble starting to kick the item-level tires (see Gillette Fuses RFID With Product Launch), analysts are predicting that companies may start tagging items (rather than just cases and pallets) sooner than expected. Rick Bauer, senior director of RFID technical research for Paxar, says that his company is already working with nearly a dozen end users to launch item-level tagging pilots.
Wal-Mart has been a strong supporter of sticking with UHF technology for item-level tagging (see Wal-Mart Seeks UHF for Item-Level), rather than moving to HF tags at the item level, as a number of pharmaceutical companies are doing in their pilot tests. But Zebra is making itself available to either camp, augmenting its UHF product portfolio with the release of a new printer-encoder for HF smart labels.
EPCglobal US president Mike Meranda told attendees that a shift is afoot within the EPCglobal solution provider community, with more than half made up of software companies. The list of companies awarded conformance marks from EPCglobal's newly launched software certification program reflected this changing profile (see EPCglobal Announces EPC Software Certification, RFID Deployment Tool). Eleven middleware providers received the software certifications for the Gen 2 reader protocol and EPCIS, while the initial round of hardware conformance awards went to only seven firms. And while mostly high-profile firms dominated hardware testing, the first group of certified Gen 2 software providers are less well-known (and more international), with German reader networking solution provider 7id, India's Skandsoft, South Korean research organization ETRI and Connecticut's Supply Insights all achieving Gen 2 conformance marks for their software.
Below is a collection of product announcements made during the EPCglobal US conference:
Vue Partnering With Paxar, Symbol
RFID infrastructure Network provider Vue Technologies is teaming with Paxar, a maker of RFID printer-encoders and smart labels, to offer retailers bundled start-up kits for companies interested in deploying an item-level tagging system. Retailers can implement item-level tagging in order to improve in-store inventory levels and streamline inventory-replenishment processes. Paxar and Vue are jointly marketing the kits, which are available now, in either a mobile cart package or as a stationary set-up that includes a handheld RFID interrogator. Either package can be used for tagging and inventory management. The solution is designed to provide end users with a means of quickly establishing an item-tagging solution and could be used within a retail store, in a warehouse or distribution center.
The two packages are offered in three configurations. The mobile cart solution costs $34,995 and includes a cart (designed to fit into aisles of most retail store front-of-store environments); the M9855 RFMP printer-encoder; 3,000 Gen 2 tags designed to work with retail product hangtag form factors; the TrueVUE IntelliPad antenna; the TrueVUE commissioning, site manager and essentials software modules; a laptop (to run the software) and a fixed-position Gen 2 RFID reader. The handheld solution, also costing $34,995, includes all the same products, excluding the cart, and includes a handheld RFID reader. A combined solution costs $74,995 and includes the mobile cart solution plus additional readers, 120 linear feet of installed Vue smart shelving, which integrates multiple antennas that are multiplexed into single readers, in order to reduce the number of readers required to interrogate items on shelves. It also includes the IntelliSwitch RF networking devices needed to connect the antennas into single readers, and the IntelliRouter needed to network the readers and pass tag data collected by the readers into the TrueVUE software.
Zebra Launches HF Counterpart to R110Xi Printer
RFID printer-encoder and smart label provider Zebra Technologies is now making its most popular RFID printer-encoder, the R110Xi, in a high-frequency (HF) model in addition to the existing UHF version. Bill Bulzoni, the company's director of RFID business development, says that Zebra developed the HF printer-encoder in response to demand from retailers' interested in rolling out item-level tagging initiatives in the retail and pharmaceutical industries. The R110Xi HF has an embedded M2 HF RFID reader module made by SkyeTek that encodes passive inlays compliant with ISO's 15693 and 18000-3 mode 1 standards, as well as NXP Semiconductors (formerly Philips Semiconductors) Mifare Ultralight HF chip. Because it is built on the same physical platform used in the UHF R110Xi, the HF version can print labels up to 4 inches wide, with a resolution of 203 or 300 dots per inch. It can be integrated into an existing enterprise system using XML coding. This replaces the Zebra's first HF printer-encoder, the R140 HF model, introduced more than five years ago. Zebra also sells a smaller, less rugged HF printer-encoder, the R2884-Z, which is designed for use as a desktop model for low-volume printing-encoding. The HF R110Xi is available now for $3,395.
RFID systems provider Symbol Technologies and Adasa, maker of a wearable RFID tagging device designed for manual case-tagging (see ADASA Developing Wearable Tag Encoder), have partnered to develop an RFID start-up kit in the form of a mobile RFID tagging infrastructure. The Rapid Deployment Mobile Tagging Station includes the Adasa PAD3500 Gen 2 tag dispenser-encoder, any one of the Gen 2 RFID handheld models from Symbol's MC9000 family of products, a Wi-Fi access point from Symbol, a beginner middleware platform from either OATSystems, GlobeRanger or BEA Systems, and a laptop to run the middleware and receive the RFID tag data sent wirelessly from the PAD device and the Symbol handheld. All of the hardware comes packaged into a rugged carrying case that can be checked as luggage by most airlines. The mobile unit is designed to enable companies interested in deploying RFID technology to test various applications of the technology at different locations throughout their enterprises. The package is available now. The combined cost of the PAD, handheld reader, access point and travel case is $8,000. The costs of the laptop and software are variable, since the customers can choose from different laptop models and middleware platforms.
TrueDemand Announces 2.0 Release
TrueDemand Software has released TrueDemand 2.0, an upgraded version of its forecasting and replenishment software for retailers. The software collects and analyzes product data from RFID tags as well as other sources, including point-of-sale systems, in order to provide retailers and suppliers with information that can help them improve stock availability. While the first release of the product was aimed at alerting manufacturers and retailers when particular items are likely to sell out, the new version includes tools to help users also know what steps they can take to prevent stock levels from falling dangerously low, says TrueDemand CEO Eric Peters. Version 2.0 offers tools designed to help end users predict availability of not just the handful of single SKUs within product category that are being RFID-tagged, but all of the products in the entire category, regardless of whether they are tagged. Lastly, version 2.0 includes a module for tracking the effectiveness of RFID-tagged promotional displays. A number of consumer packaged goods companies are using RFID to track newly launched or promotional products in order to evaluate promotion executions.
Loftware Upgrades Printer Server
Printer and automatic-identification data collection software company Loftware has released Loftware Print Server version 9.0 for managing bar-code printers as well as RFID printer-encoders and readers. Enhancements to the upgraded server include a general input/output port for linking devices, such as motion sensors (which can be used to control when RFID readers interrogate an area), application program interfaces for .NET and Java application development, a new, automatic backup and restore tool, and a standard secure socket layer (SSL) to augment data security for customers using the server from a remote location via the server's Web access. Loftware Print Server 9.0 also contains six RFID label templates that can be used to design smart labels for shipments headed for retailers including Wal-Mart, as well as to the Department of Defense (DOD).
