Dec 08, 2008On Dec. 5, approximately 200 guests gathered at a low-rise building located a short ride from Washington's Dulles Airport, to celebrate the opening of ODIN Technologies' new office and radio frequency identification lab. The new facility, the company indicates, will be utilized to test a wide range of RFID equipment, simulate real-world environments for clients' applications and develop new applications for ODIN's customers.
"The entire facility was purpose-built for RFID," says Patrick Sweeney, ODIN's president and CEO. "We have an open office plan that lets the engineers collaborate, a brainstorming room where we can meet with our customers and map out their requirements, and the lab that lets us test everything in a real-world environment."
ODIN Technologies has tested and published benchmarking reports regarding IT asset tracking, medical smart cabinets, and a variety of EPC Gen 2 UHF tags and interrogators, including those that operate under European regulations. According to ODIN, the large lab provides additional space for testing additional equipment.
For the simulations, the facility has a working dock door containing an RFID portal, a small conveyor system with a tunnel reader, a shipping container, and an area designated for testing tags on clothing and other individual items.
During the event, ODIN showed off some of the systems the company has developed for its clients. These included one it requested that RFID Journal not describe, because the firm is currently awaiting several patents related to that device.
Attendees included staff members from a number of ODIN customers, such as Airbus, Thomasville Furniture and the U.S. Marine Corp., as well as representatives from several technology partners, including Bent Systems, Intermec, InSync, Lexmark, Motorola and Sirit.
"This facility really gives us all the resources and space we need," Sweeney says, "to ensure that when we deploy a solution for a customer, we know it will work because we've tested it thoroughly under real-world conditions."
