Feb 17, 2011The following are news announcements made during the past week.
French Mobile Operators Expect to Ship 1 Million NFC Handsets in 2011
Following on the heels of several Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled handset pilots carried out in France (see Cityzi Seeks to Spur Adoption of NFC RFID Technology and RFID News Roundup: Orange Plans European-wide Launch of NFC-enabled SIM Cards, Handsets), the Association Francaise pour le Sans Contact Mobile (AFSCM ) has announced that its members expect to distribute 1 million NFC-enabled handsets this year. AFSCM, a nonprofit group comprising a number of telecommunications and technology companies, was established in 2008 by French mobile network operators France Telecom-Orange, Bouygues Télécom and SFR, in order to boost the adoption of NFC and contactless technologies. The organization's goal is to make NFC mobile handsets widely available across the nation. The Cityzi pilots, first launched in Nice, included NFC-enabled phones that function as bus and light-rail tickets, and loyalty devices for shopping at participating stores, as well as for use with smart posters that provide tourist information about the city. The operators are now marketing NFC handsets to French consumers, who will be able to use them to make purchases at retailers equipped with compatible payment terminals, as well as for public transport, access to real-time bus and tram timetables, money-off coupons, tourist information, on-demand advertising and more. According to AFSCM, the services will be embedded on Cityzi's subscriber identity module (SIM) card, making them secure (in line with the strictest current standards) and transferable between handsets, while also safeguarding user data confidentiality. New applications can be downloaded remotely via the telecom operators' networks to the SIM cards of Cityzi customers, who will then be able to choose from an increasingly broad range of services provided by the project's partners. This year, AFSCM reports, mobile handset manufacturers will offer a wide range of contactless mobile devices, including conventional handsets and smartphones.
Zebra Divests Navis and Parts of WhereNet
Approximately three and a half years after buying Navis, which manufactures software designed to help companies manage logistics and goods across the supply chain, Zebra Technologies has agreed to sell its Navis business to Cargotec for approximately $190 million in cash. Zebra acquired Navis in 2007 for $145 million (see Zebra Buys Navis, Proveo). Cargotec operates a global network of cargo- and load-handling solutions. The transaction is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2011, subject to regulatory approvals, customary closing conditions and working capital adjustments. Zebra estimates that the sale will result in an after-tax gain of $30 million to $40 million, which will be recorded in the period during which the transaction is completed. The transaction also includes certain business operations serving marine-terminal customers that comprised a small portion of the company's 2007 acquisition of WhereNet (see Zebra Buys WhereNet), including the WhereNet Marine Terminal Solution product line. All other elements of WhereNet, such as real-time location systems (RTLS), tags and readers, will remain with Zebra. Zebra's executives say the divestiture marks the company's efforts to focus on its core business of providing solutions for asset tracking, as well as for specialty-printing, RFID and RTLS technologies. "Following the sale of Navis, Zebra will benefit from a sharper focus on its core business to drive consistent long-term growth, extend industry leadership and deliver greater returns to shareholders," said Anders Gustafsson, Zebra's CEO, in a prepared statement. Based on a strategic review of its business, Zebra indicates, it determined that the highly industry-specific nature of Navis limited its application in other industries, and was insufficiently aligned with the core business. According to Cargotec's executives, the addition of Navis will strengthen the company's offerings. Marine container terminals are Navis' core market, the officials note, and the Navis solutions are used in more than 50 countries. Navis, founded in 1988, is headquartered in Oakland, Calif. The firm currently has more than 300 employees, the majority of whom are located in the United States and India. Its sales are expected to be around $70 million this year, with approximately 40 percent recurring sales. Navis will continue conducting business with its customers as an independent part of Cargotec, irrespective of equipment supplier, and Navis' reporting will be consolidated into Cargotec's financial reporting once the transaction has been completed.
Surfaceslab Intros RFID-enabled Smart Panel for Hanging Apparel
Surfaceslab, a technology firm that develops smart surfaces, is launching its RFID-based Smart Panel, designed for fashion retail management. The Smart Panel is the result of development with Creativesystems, focused on the implementation of RFID technology, and Vicaima, a Portuguese producer of interior doors, with research from the Instituto de Telecomunicações. It leverages the same technology in smart floors being used at Fly London, a retail store in Lisbon, Portugal (see Fly London Uses RFID to Manage Inventory, and Take Customers Around the World). "The retail market now presents emerging needs that are a challenge for us," says Pedro França, Surfaceslab's business manager. "The Smart Panel development responds to the urgent and ongoing need to identify and control hanged products, thus opening new possibilities in stock monitoring by allowing, among other advantages, more optimized replenishment processes." The Smart Panel, which leverages EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology, is designed to identify and quantify, in real time, hanging apparel placed within its reading area, which the company says is intended to enable online, automated inventory tracking, while also providing greater flexibility to replenishment models of products arranged vertically. That is because the Smart Panel can read RFID tags containing data regarding each hanging item, and that information can be shared with inventory systems and other back-end systems. In addition, the Smart Panel can be used to collect product information that can be shared with shoppers in real time, via nearby displays. According to França, the panels can be installed using mounting brackets in order to affix them to walls (which can be made of wood or brick), and the mounting process can be adapted to the store's existing floor design. Each Smart Panel has an embedded antenna, and is connected to a UHF RFID reader (or to a multiplexer, and then to a reader). When tagged products are placed in or moved out of a Smart Panel's reading zone, the company reports, the software updates the location information about each tag ID read and collected. Each panel's reading zone is very defined; the reading area depends on the panel's dimensions, but the read distance out from the panel is 50 centimeters (20 inches). For example, a Smart Panel can measure 100 centimeters by 100 centimeters (39 inches by 39 inches) in length and width, thus providing a confined reading zone of 100 centimeters by 100 centimeters by 50 centimeters. The tags—such as those from Alien Technology, Avery Dennison and UPM RFID—are normally placed on clothes. The Smart Panel also works with various fashion- and apparel-tagging approaches currently available on the market, such as RFID tags embedded in hangtags, care and textile labels, and hard tags.
Smartrac, an RFID inlay supplier headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has announced an acquisition agreement with Omnia Technologies, an RFID tag manufacturer based in Manesar, in Gurgaon, India. Under the terms of the deal, Smartrac will take an interest of 50 percent in the Indian manufacturer. Among Omnia Technologies' product lineup are low-frequency (LF), high-frequency (HF), ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) and custom RFID tags. Smartrac reports that the acquisition is part of its growth strategy, and further strengthens its business activities in the Indian market. "Omnia's product and technology range perfectly complements our industry and logistics product portfolio," said Christian Fischer, Smartrac's CEO, in a prepared statement. "India is one of the fastest growing markets for RFID. We are very pleased to have Omnia as strong partner in the region to further participate in the growth potentials of this market." Omnia Technologies will be managed conjointly by Smartrac and by Omnia Technology's owners, Ashish and Ajay Bhutani.
DockOn Adds Circular Polarized Antenna Designs to Portfolio
DockOn, a developer of wireless planar antenna technology, has announced new antennas in its CPL antenna family. The additions are circular polarized antennas; previously, all of DockOn's antennas were linear polarized antennas. The CPL antennas are planar in design (which basically means all of the elements, both active and parasitic, are contained in a single plane). According to DockOn, the benefits of a planar design include the ability to fit into various shaped enclosures without significant performance degradation, or (if required) to scale larger for increased range, as well as a greater magnetic field strength compared with typical voltage-fed antennas, such as meanders, monopoles and patches. DockOn's CPL antennas use both magnetic loop radiators and colocated electric field radiators; conventional antenna technologies typically excite either electric or magnetic radiators, the firm explains, but not both. The CPL antennas, the company reports, allow for the simultaneous excitation of both radiators, resulting in an effective cancellation of reactive power, while also improving overall performance and efficiency. Embedded RFID application provider Thinkify offers DockOn's antennas with linear polarization as an accessory to its latest line of RFID readers—but according to DockOn, Thinkify has seen new customer demand for readers offering flexibility for tag orientation. "The new circular polarization option provides us with the ability to tackle even more difficult RFID use-cases where the tag orientation relative to the antenna is unknown or uncontrolled," said John Price, a Thinkify cofounder, in a prepared statement. "For a wide variety of RFID applications like document control, you cannot guarantee the orientation of the tag—they can be scattered all over the work area. The circular polarization and relatively high gain characteristics of DockOn's new product provides a tremendous advantage in system performance and read accuracy." All CPL antenna designs are templates for custom antennas made to meet specific customer requirements. As such, they can be manufactured in a variety of frequencies on FR4 (a reinforced epoxy-based material, typically used to make printed circuit boards) or other substrates using common, inexpensive, high-volume production techniques. Each customer who requires a specific antenna can work with DockOn to build one that meets its own particular needs regarding such characteristics as radio frequency, size and power efficiency. The different frequencies are suited for different applications, DockOn notes, such as 915 MHz for readers of passive RFID tags, and 2.4 GHz for Wi-Fi-based systems, which is also an ideal use case for the new circular polarized antennas. The CPL antenna technology and development environment enable customers to bring unique requirements to DockOn, and to receive rapid feedback regarding their project's feasibility. Within hours or days, DockOn is able to present a feasibility study and prototypes for testing, the company reports; sometimes, having just the frequency and desired size is sufficient to produce a prototype in just hours or days. The company also leverages a global design collaboration software tool that serves to provide customers with immediate answers about their RF design, automated and simulated antenna design functions, the ability to store collaborative antenna designs to a central database, and access to a wealth of antenna design information.
Alliance Tech to Take Over Fish's Trade Show and Conference Business
Alliance Tech, a provider of management and information technology solutions for the meeting and events industry, and Fish, a provider of interactive marketing and measurement software, have jointly announced that they have entered into an agreement in which Alliance Tech will assume Fish's business in the trade show and conference sector. Both companies leverage RFID in their solutions to identify and track attendees via RFID-enabled badges, analyze marketing, and deliver and target sales messages (see UWB to Help Sales Staff Fish for Leads and Trade Show Badges Trigger Targeted Messages). According to the two companies, Fish has made a strategic decision to focus on experiential events, including business-to-consumer events, amusement parks, branded events and other closed environments. Alliance Tech will continue to focus on trade shows, associations and conferences. As a part of the agreement, the firms will cross license-specific intellectual property and products. Alliance Tech will procure rights to the Fish Real Time Measurement System (RTMS) and represent this system in the trade-show space. Previously, the company offered only passive RFID technology to its customers—but with the agreement, it will now have the ability to offer both an active and passive RFID solution for clients. "We have always had great respect and admiration for what Fish has accomplished and their creative application of RFID systems," said Art Borrego, Alliance Tech's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "With the agreement, Alliance Tech is pleased to be in a position to offer clients a broader solution, which encompasses both their trade show and experiential needs."
TagMaster Partners With 7iD
TagMaster, a Swedish manufacturer of RFID solutions for rail and transportation applications, is teaming with 7iD Technologies, a German provider of RFID systems and a supplier of RFID-based software solutions, to cooperate on middleware solutions for use in TagMaster's new ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) reader platform, which conforms with the ISO 18000-6C and EPC Gen 2 standard. The initial work, the two companies report, will generate an integrated solution with hardware and middleware for railway track-and-trace applications. Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will retain rights to market RFID solutions, with TagMaster products forming a part of the end solution, including middleware developed by 7iD. The two companies will also explore future cooperative opportunities to develop RFID systems and related technologies. "In signing this Letter of Intent, TagMaster has secured a competent and recognized partner for the supply of a powerful middleware solution that will strengthen our UHF product strategy," said Bo Tiderman, TagMaster's CEO, in a prepared statement. "7iD is a proven leader in EPC Gen 2 software technology, and we believe this cooperation will strengthen our position as the leading RFID solution provider within the transportation sector."
