This article was originally published by RFID Update.
March 26, 2008—Research firm IDTechEx has published highlights from the annual RFID Smart Labels USA conference it hosted last month in Boston. Following is a recap:
- Silicon Valley-based Kovio assured attendees of the eventual commercialization of printed RFID for the ISO 14443 standard (used for contactless cards). The company is working with fare collection solutions provider Cubic Corporation to that end. Recall that research firm NanoMarkets just this month predicted commercialization of printed RFID for certain applications by 2010 (see Printed RFID Nearing Commercialization, Study Says).
- Active RFID and RTLS are booming, and growing faster than the overall RFID market. IDTechEx projects it will grow from 12 percent to 28 percent of the total market over the next ten years.
- Of the various flavors of RTLS technology (WiFi, active RFID, ultra-wideband, ultrasound, infrared, etc.), ultra-wideband, or UWB, is gaining traction the fastest. (See UWB Finding a Place in the RTLS Market for more on this.)
- Private investment in RFID is expected to increase.
- The size of orders for RFID tags and related infrastructure has grown across a variety of applications, including unusual ones like fish tagging. This trend echoes an observation made by Baird analyst Reik Read late last year when he cited a number of one-million-unit tag orders, something almost unheard of just a year prior (see Baird Sees a Turning Tide in the RFID Market).
- The e-passport business is thriving, with fully three-fourths of the 100+ million issued passports including RFID. Dutch reference and information systems firm Keesing pegs the worldwide e-passport market at between $4 and $8 billion already.
Read the full highlights from IDTechEx
