Mar 01, 2006This article was originally published by RFID Update.
March 1, 2006—RFID World just wrapped up here in Dallas, Texas, and there was one theme that was undeniable across the conference floor: the diminished importance of mandate compliance as the driver of RFID adoption. RFID Update went booth to booth, speaking with vendor representatives about what they were hearing from the conference attendees. Over and over, the reps said that there were proportionally less end-users interested in RFID from a compliance perspective this year than at past shows. "Within the four walls", "closed loop", "internal ROI", and "asset tracking" were the common phrases.
Compliance continues to be a theme, to be sure. Indeed, the DoD mandate will finally kick in meaningfully in 2006, and Wal-Mart will transition to Gen2 by mid-year, which most expect to improve the retailer's deployment and redouble its enthusiasm for the technology. But it is clear that the industry's almost singular focus on compliance is gone. There were a slew of announcements at the show, but nothing earth shattering. Most of the news represented incremental industry progress. That is not to be interpreted negatively, however, since it suggests a welcome level of industry maturity.
