Apr 16, 2008RFID Journal has announced that it has sold out the 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall at RFID Journal LIVE! 2008, its sixth annual conference and exhibition, which opens today at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
"There is a view in some quarters that the RFID industry is in a slump, but this year's event features record attendance, with more than 3,000 people preregistered, and we have sold out the largest exhibit hall we've ever had," says Mark Roberti, founder and editor of RFID Journal. "That tells me the industry is strong, and that companies are starting to understand how they can use RFID products and services to improve the way they do business."
Exhibitors will demonstrate numerous advances in RFID technology, including tags that can be read in the presence of water and metal, interrogators that can read tags from more than 600 feet away and determine their location in 3-D space, new applications for tracking and managing assets, and more. Among the special features of this year's exhibit hall are:
Motorola's Mobile Briefing Center
The Mobile Briefing Center is a 110-foot-long, 14-foot-high tractor trailer filled with Motorola's latest RFID innovations, including product offerings and partner demonstrations. The rig will be open to attendees during exhibit hours.
Alien's RFID Momentum Pavilion
Alien Technology's RFID Momentum Pavilion will feature case studies from real-world implementations by seven leading companies in the industry, with a focus on baggage handling, brand authentication, pharmaceutical, government, retail/CPG and the supply chain.
The Ultimate Scavenger Hunt—Real-Time Location Services Interactive Game
Real-time location systems (RTLS) represent a new class of technologies, including active and passive RFID, that can unlock new business value for an end user. IBM, Ubisense and Alien Technology have put together The Ultimate Scavenger Hunt, a hands-on game of wits that incorporates a combination of business process management and RTLS technology to provide attendees with an understanding of how real-time locating systems work.
EPCIS Demonstration Center
The Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) is an EPCglobal standard for sharing supply chain visibility data among trading partners, providing a method for businesses to share "what, where, when and why" information with external partners about what is occurring in a particular supply chain. Three live demonstrations of EPCIS in action will be shown on the exhibit floor.
RFID@Play
Attendees can make a putt on an RFID-enabled golf putting green and complete a pass in an RFID-enabled football challenge, using technology provided by Rush Tracking Systems.
The 2008 RFID Journal Awards' New "Best in Show" Award
Leading technology companies from around the world will launch and demonstrate new products on the exhibit floor at RFID Journal LIVE! An independent panel of judges has selected 10 such products as finalists for the 2008 RFID Journal Awards' "Best in Show" category. Attendees can help select the winner by watching the presentations and casting votes.
"Each year, RFID Journal LIVE! gets bigger and better because the exhibitors continue to invest in new products that deliver more value and make RFID easier to deploy, and because there are more end users willing to speak about their projects," Roberti says. "But this truly feels like a watershed event that will finally get the mainstream media to focus on the great things RFID can do for businesses and consumers."
