RFID Journal, the world’s leading RFID media company, has published the preliminary agenda for its RFID Journal LIVE! 2006 Conference and Exhibition.
This year’s event, held in Chicago, attracted more than 1,600 attendees and more than 100 industry leaders. The 2006 event is expected to be even bigger.
The conference program for LIVE! 2006 features eight tracks providing in-depth information about RFID applications in five vertical industries—retail/consumer goods; defense/aerospace; health care/pharmaceutical; manufacturing; and transportation/logistics. Three other tracks are aimed at individuals exploring RFID’s potential (Getting Started), companies ready to implement the technology (How To Deploy) and executives leading RFID efforts (Executive Strategy).
“RFID Journal LIVE! has a well-deserved reputation for providing the highest quality content, and we’re taking it to another level in 2006,” says Mark Roberti, founder and editor of RFID Journal. “Our theme this year is `Putting RFID to Work,’ and we’ve attracted a broad array of speakers who have put RFID to work and can show others how they did it.”
Among the keynote speakers already committed to the event are:
• Kevin Humphries, senior vice president of information technology, Federal Express
• Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, U.S. Department of Defense
• Jim Noble, CIO, Altria
• Carolyn Walton, vice president of information systems division, Wal-Mart
The five vertical industry tracks were chosen based on a reader survey conducted by RFID Journal. “It’s clear readers are looking to solutions specific to their industry, and they want to understand the particular problems involved with deploying RFID in a specific industry,” says Roberti. “We have covered these industries for more than three years and are able to recruit end users and experts who can discuss the issues objectively and share their experiences.”
The event will also cover how to change business processes positively in four key functional areas that RFID will impact: information technology, supply chain management, operations and warehouse management. In addition, it will feature an exhibition with more than 150 of the world’s leading RFID technology providers. IBM is the event’s signature sponsor; Microsoft is a premium sponsor; and Tyco/ADT is a track sponsor.
Platinum Sponsors Include:
• Acsis
• Applied Wireless Identification (AWID)
• Intermec Technologies
• Manhattan Associates
• Oracle
• Paxar
• SAP
• Sun Microsystems
Gold-Plus Sponsors Include:
• Blue Vector
• CSC
• Impinj
• Markem
• ODIN Technologies
• T3Ci
Associations and Research Partners Include:
• The Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility (AIM)
• EPCglobal
• ChainLink Research
“RFID is entering a new phase,” says Roberti. “Early adopters have had HF, UHF, active and real-time locating technologies in production for six months or more, and they have real experiences to share, rather than talking about theory. Attendees to this year’s event will walk away with a wealth of practical information they can take back to their companies and use to put RFID to work. As strong as the content has been in the past, I’m confident this will be our best conference yet.”