Jan 17, 2013The following are news announcements made during the past week.
U.K. Retailer Marks & Spencer Expands RFID Program With Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison's Retail Branding and Information Solutions (RBIS) division has announced that its nine-year partnership to supply radio frequency identification equipment to U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been extended. An early user of RFID (see EPC in Fashion at Marks & Spencer and Marks & Spencer to Extend Trial to 53 Stores), M&S is now expanding its use of the technology to track and manage all clothing and home wares within its stores, according to Avery Dennison. The rollout will take place throughout all departments, starting in 2013, and is expected to be complete by spring 2014. Avery Dennison and M&S have worked together on several RFID projects since 2003, including the creation of specific RFID tags that are fully integrated into a range of labels and tickets. Since then, the company reports, Avery Dennison has supplied almost one billion RFID tags to M&S with no data loss or duplication. In the future, Avery Dennison indicates, M&S plans to expand the use of RFID scanning throughout the supply chain, in order to increase the accuracy and speed of distribution. "Having accurate stock information is a driver for our whole business, especially when it comes to multi-channel," said Kim Phillips, M&S' head of packaging, in a statement. "The RFID partnership with Avery Dennison is allowing us to replenish stock from the distribution center more accurately, making more garment sizes available to more customers and continuing to prove its value over and over again."
Intermec Enhances 70 Series Mobile Computers With Integrated RFID
Intermec has announced that it now offers fully integrated ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID readers with no external antennas in its CK70, CN70 and CN70e mobile computers. According to Intermec, the integration combines RFID reading capability with the 70 Series platform of compact, rugged mobile computers. The 70 Series reader platform is compliant with the EPC Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6C standards. It supports medium- to long-range read distances, and is optimized to read one or multiple tags in support of inventory- and asset-tracking applications in the retail, health-care, industrial and government market segments. The three models available each feature an ergonomic form factor, have an IP 67 rating (which means they are dustproof and waterproof, and are able to withstand submersion in water for brief periods) and operate in temperatures ranging from -20 degrees to +60 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees to +140 degrees Fahrenheit). With the battery, the CN70 device measures 16.9 centimeters long by 8.0 centimeters wide by 3.4 centimeters deep (6.65 inches by 3.15 inches by 1.34 inches) and weighs 450 grams (15.9 ounces). The CN70e RFID model measures 19.5 centimeters by 8.0 centimeters by 3.4 centimeters (7.66 inches by 3.15 inches by 1.34 inches) and weighs 491 grams (17.3 ounces) with the battery, while the CK70 RFID device measures 23.7 centimeters by 8.0 centimeters by 4.3 centimeters (9.33 inches by 3.16 inches by 1.69 inches) and weighs 562 grams (19 ounces) with the battery. With its single platform approach, Intermec reports, the 70 Series RFID features a single architecture, a single software build, a single set of peripherals and a single charging system, which simplifies the tasks of software updates, training new employees, managing spares pools and charging devices. The 70 Series RFID platform, the company indicates, is fully compatible with the entire suite of original 70 Series accessories, including the FlexDock modular docking system.
ZeitControl Cardsystems Intros USB RFID Reader
German company ZeitControl Cardsystems' contactless and RFID transponder group has introduced a new 13.56 MHz RFID reader, known as the TagTracer MicroStick Mifare, in the form of a USB stick that can be plugged into a USB port. The device can read data culled from various ISO 14443A-compliant transponders, including ZeitControl's BasicCard 7.5 and those made with NXP Semiconductors' Mifare Classic, Mifare Ultralight, Mifare DESFire or NTAG chips, and stores the data in the PC's keyboard buffer. The information can then be used for various applications, such as by Microsoft Excel. The USB RFID reader also works with smartphones and tablets. According to ZeitControl, the TagTracer MicroStick Mifare is suitable for a variety of applications, such as those designed to track logistics, stock data, product IDs and time. When the reader's antenna comes in range of an RFID transponder, that transponder's serial ID number is culled and written into the keyboard buffer of the PC; the serial number then appears wherever the cursor is in an open software application, such as Microsoft Word or Excel, just as if the number were typed on the keyboard. The interrogator features a reading distance of up to 50 millimeters (2 inches), and illuminates a green LED to indicate it is ready for use and a yellow LED to confirm a read. It includes a PC configuration tool that allows users to customize the read data output formats. The stick measures approximately 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) in length and weighs about 18 grams (0.6 ounces). Available now, the TagTracer MicroStick Mifare is priced at about $146 (€109.00), plus freight and sales tax.
L-com, a designer and manufacturer of wired and wireless connectivity products, has announced its UP series of omnidirectional HyperLink antennas for the 5.1 to 5.8 GHz frequency band. The antennas are available in two versions—one with a 6 dBi gain (the HG5158-06UP-NF) and another with an 8.5 dBi gain (the HG5158-09UP-NF)—and are compatible with IEEE 802.11a/n wireless local-area networks (LANs). According to L-com, the antennas work in a wide range of 5 GHz applications, including Wi-Fi-enabled real-time location system (RTLS) solutions and active 5 GHz RFID tags, such as those sold by Redpine Signals (see Redpine Signals Intros Dual-Frequency Wi-Fi RFID Tag). The new antennas are rated for all-weather operation, the company reports, with the collinear brass elements stored inside a durable UV-stable PVC radome. Available now, the antennas cost about $50 each.
Schneider Moden Adopts Enso Detego RFID Software at Its Gerry Weber Stores
Enso Detego, a provider of RFID solutions for supply chain management in the apparel and retail market, has announced that Schneider-Moden, a German fashion retailer, has implemented its Detego Basic Store software to track garments labeled with EPC Gen 2 passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags. The software is designed to automate the inventory tracking and sales-floor replenishment processes, and is being utilized at two of Schneider-Moden's newly opened Gerry Weber fashion retail stores. The implementation, according to Matjaz Novak, Enso Detego's director of marketing, is used throughout the stores' processes, including checking in inbound goods, tracking inventory, surveillance and more. "What makes this solution specific is probably the level of RFID software integration," Novak states. "The RFID software modules are seamlessly integrated into Schneider-Moden's ERP system." The enterprise resource planning system is provided by Höltl Retail Solutions, Novak says, and the readers in the Schneider-Moden implementation are supplied by Nordic ID. The stores receive their fashion articles with RFID labels already attached to them from Gerry Weber. The apparel manufacturer has been employing EPC Gen 2 labels sewn into garments for some time (see Gerry Weber Sews In RFID's Benefits). Within minutes, store personnel can inspect incoming articles and run a discrepancy analysis to determine if each order is complete. After the goods are received, Enso Detego explains, workers can accurately and reliably locate the goods at any location within the store, manage the availability of products on the sales floor and ensure efficient replenishment process. The deployed electronic article surveillance (EAS) system provides the stores with an effective anti-theft solution that is integrated with the retailer's IT systems.
RFIDSpan Technology Launches PC-based RFID Middleware Appliance
RFIDSpan Technology, a developer of RFID antennas and networking technology, has announced a PC-based RFID ALE Middleware Box Appliance designed to help companies create RFID-based enterprise business applications. The appliance comes with the Fosstrak open-source RFID software and MySQL Database server pre-installed. The Fosstrak software implements GS1's Electronic Product Code (EPC) specifications, according to RFIDSpan Technology, and is tailored to work in tandem with RFIDSpan Technology's iReader-998 Low-Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) reader. The iReader-998 device (see RFID News Roundup: RFIDSpan Technology Announces New LLRP RFID Reader) is capable of supporting hundreds of antennas, the company reports. Combining the ALE Box Appliance with the iReader-998 allows user to create RFID solutions that focus on business logic information, as well as store tag business information on MySQL database servers, the company adds. The Fosstrak open-source RFID software platform implements GS1's EPC specifications, and includes an EPCIS Repository, an EPCIS Capture Client, Filtering and Collection ALE Middleware, and a Tag Data Translation Engine. Available now, the RFID ALE Middleware Box Appliance is priced at $899 per unit.
NFC Tags Embedded in Books About Steve Jobs
Two books, the newly released 2013: What Would Steve Jobs Say Now?, and the already-published Steve Jobs & the World of Mobile—authored by Patrick Meyer—will feature Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags designed to enable interactivity for the readers. Meyer, a consultant on brand and business strategies for enterprise companies and emerging tech ventures, has worked for such brands as Coke, Ford, Procter & Gamble, Levi's, Volkswagen and Nintendo. He was the founder and CEO of marketing innovation consultancy WPP Fusion 5, and was most recently the president of Sourcebits, a developer of social and gaming applications for mobile-phone, Web and cloud applications. Currently, Meyer is a partner and the chief marketing officer at Thinaire, as well as a continued partner and advisor for Sourcebits and Knocking Live video-sharing app and other select ventures. The tags, provided by Thinaire and Smartrac, leverage the NXP Semiconductors' NTAG21x family of high-frequency (HF) passive NFC RFID chips, unveiled in November 2012 (see NXP Releases New NFC Tag Chips for New Applications). Thinaire provides its Enterprise Suite, a collection of NFC analytic, optimization and campaign management tools for NFC marketing programs. The NFC tags, positioned on each book's cover, link to pages on Thinaire's Web site, which Meyer says hosts his own proprietary content. "The tag allows the user, through a choice of button visuals on their phone, to view different choices of content," he explains. One button includes a pop-up video of Meyer being interviewed on a talk show about the book; another brings users to a social feed that links to social-media entities, such as Twitter and Facebook, related to the book and Meyer; a third brings users to Patrick TV, an online channel featuring Meyer's work that which offers periodic updates about the book and the topics associated; and another button that brings users to a video about Thinaire and NFC technology. Late last year, Dutch publishing firm Elektor International Media published a book about ballooning, titled Catch the Sun), with NFC tags on its cover and some of its pages (see Embedded RFID Tags Help Make This Book a Good Read).
