Sep 13, 2005This article was originally published by RFID Update.
September 13, 2005—Technology giants Hewlett Packard and Philips Semiconductors today threw their combined weight behind spurring accelerated adoption of Gen2 technology. The companies used the EPCglobal US conference, which began today in Atlanta, to announce a partnership whose primary goal is easing the upgrade path for end-users migrating their deployments from first to second generation RFID technology.
As partners, HP and Philips expect that their respective RFID capabilities -- HP's in systems integration and services, Philips' in chip development -- will complement each other well. Their stated focus is the CPG, high-tech, and pharmaceutical sectors, suggesting that the companies intend to ride the mainstream RFID wave. (Other RFID service providers have recently started diversifying their RFID focus into work-in-process and asset management, for example. Such sectors won't see the lucrative scale of EPC-based retail or pharma tagging, but in the near-term they are exhibiting more immediate ROI for end-users.)
HP and Philips have both reportedly implemented RFID solutions internally. HP runs an RFID supply chain test center in São Paulo, Brazil, where the company will use Philips' RFID technology. Christophe Duverne, VP of Marketing and Sales for the Business Line Identification division at Philips, said, "Philips and HP have a legacy of complementary solutions and collaboration. By joining forces to drive industry standardization and system optimization, we're breaking down the barriers to wide-scale adoption of Gen2 technology."
The joint announcement from the companies does not identify a particular new product or service offering, so it's a bit difficult to decipher the substance of the partnership. At the very least, it is an assertion by the two tech heavyweights that they are committed to seeing the realization of Gen2 deployments as soon as possible. HP has a lot to gain by end-users moving forward with Gen2 upgrades because it sells services related to just that. And Philips has every incentive to drive the demand for Gen2 product since it is predicted to be a primary supplier of Gen2 chips. The sooner the end-user community adopts Gen2, the sooner the companies will ride the wave.
Read the press release
