This article was originally published by RFID Update.
November 17, 2004—Apparently only 30% of the “Top 100”, those Wal-Mart suppliers mandated to begin RFID equipping shipments to the retailer by January 1, 2005, have implemented comprehensive RFID roll-outs. 70% have instead opted for a “slap and ship” quick-fix. But according to ABI Research’s director of RFID and ubiquitous technologies, Erik Michielsen, the industry’s obsession with January 1, 2005, misses the larger point: neither Wal-Mart’s RFID initiative nor the greater idea of RFID as a revolutionary technology should be judged by exactly what happens on January 1. “Wal-Mart didn’t expect this battle to be won by January first, 2005,” says Michielsen. Instead, the retailer wanted to jumpstart the RFID revolution – which, by all accounts, it has. Furthermore, the reason why so many of the Top 100 chose not to go all-out on their RFID implementations was because “reputable integrators” were not active in the market. With RFID middleware maturation and the participation of industry giants like Microsoft, IBM, SAP, and others, that will change in 2005, which Michielsen dubs The Year of the Integrator. “Standards, education, and fundamentals” will be behind the industry, and companies will begin to really get their hands dirty with RFID.
Read the article at ABI Research
