March/April 2005

MAR/APR 2005

Features

• FEATURES
• Help Wanted
  An exclusive survey of RFID Journal readers indicates a growing need for employees with a variety of RFID skills. Are universities and training companies educating people to meet the demand?
• VERTICAL FOCUS
• The Buzz in Consumer Electronics
  By enabling companies to react quickly to sudden changes in demand for new products, RFID adoption in the consumer electronics supply chain could benefit manufacturers as well as retailers.
• COVER STORY
• Wal-Mart Tackles Out-of-Stocks
  Wal-Mart is rolling out new applications and processes in its first seven RFID-enabled stores, to ensure that items are on the shelves when customers want to buy them.
• COVER STORY
• The $69 Billion Problem
  Out-of-stocks have long been the bane of the retail industry. RFID has the potential to make sure products are where they need to be, but solving the problem involves more than just tagging goods in the supply chain.
• CASE STUDY
• Beaver Street Fisheries Catches RFID
  The frozen-seafood dealer may be a small fish in Wal-Mart’s sea
  of suppliers, yet it met the retailer’s RFID mandate a year ahead of schedule—and it expects to land internal benefits as well.
• BEST PRACTICES
• The Right RFID Reader Strategy
  Companies need to understand the reader requirements for each of their major RFID applications and the features of common types of readers—and then match them.

Departments

• Editor's Note
• Sorry, It’s Out of Stock
  There's a huge return on investment in RFID if it can be used to solve the $69 billion problem.
• Out in Front
• RFID Goes Green
  One company wants to recycle tags to reduce waste in landfills—and the cost of deployment.
• Out in Front
• The Seeing-Eye Robot
  A robot equipped with an RFID reader could guide the blind through unfamiliar environments, such as airports and train stations.
• Out in Front
• Paper Wrapper Not Included
• Out in Front
• Counting the Cost of Terrorism
  Below are estimates of the economic impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the potential impact of a dirty bomb.
• Perspective
• The IP Conundrum
  Does Intermec’s position on licensing its patents threaten the RFID industry? Depends on whom you ask.
• Perspective
• Privacy Gets on the Agenda
  Regulators and legislators toss the ball to retailers, who are at last
  ready to run with it.
• Perspective
• Privacy: Whose Responsibility?
  The following are excerpts from an exchange on an RFID bulletin board run by the Silicon Valley RFID Special Interest Group. The identities of the people posting were withheld to protect their privacy.

Columns

• Ashton's View
• Be Your Own Analyst
  Here’s how to make your own judgments about the state of the RFID market.
• Stay Tuned
• ONS: Leveraging E-Commerce
  EPCglobal’s Object Name Service is designed to let users look up data associated with EPC tags, but it could also drive e-commerce.
• Road Map
• Aim for the Worst
  The performance of tags—even those of the same make and model—can vary greatly. To achieve high read rates, design systems to read the weakest tags.