The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations: AdvanIDe; HID Global; ADR Software; SATO, Nexgen Packaging; Wavetrend, Silent Partner Technologies; Curie-Cancer, Biolog-id; and Toppan Printing.
AdvanIDe Launches Kit to Check for Mifare Clones
AdvanIDe, a provider of silicon chips for RFID tags and readers, has introduced a kit aimed at helping transponder manufacturers, transport operators and others check to ascertain whether the chip inside a tag or contactless card is authentic, or has been cloned. The NXP Mifare Classic 1K Clone Checker Kit, which includes NXP Semiconductors‘ Mifare Pegoda II reader with a secure access module (SAM), as well as additional test cards and software that can verify that an NXP Mifare Classic chip is genuine. According to AdvanIDe, an IC that has been cloned can impact performance and result in shorter read ranges and instability, both of which can lead to high failure rates in the field. The AdvanIDe kit is available now for $250, and includes the reader, a USB cable, a CD containing AdvanIDe’s Originality Checker software and documentation, three Mifare Classic Next Generation cards, and one non-genuine Mifare card.
HID Global Expands SlimFlex RFID Tag Family
HID Global has announced that it has expanded its SlimFlex Tag family of broadband ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID transponders with the addition of the new SlimFlex Standard 200 and Standard 301 models. These new transponders comply with the EPC Gen 2 standard, and are designed for quick, secure mounting using standard cable ties. According to the company, the tags are encased in a bendable thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) housing, enabling them to be mounted snugly to round or irregular surfaces, such as cylindrical containers, pipes, bags, helmets or trees. There is no need for the use of screw holes on tagged objects, the firm reports—an important feature for tagging pipes and other objects that could otherwise leak fluids and become inoperable. The tags, the company adds, are waterproof, food-compatible and designed to perform in the harshest conditions—providing high resistance to aggressive liquids and ultraviolet (UV) rays, and reliable performance and reading stability in heat up to +158 degrees Fahrenheit (+70 degrees Celsius) and sub-freezing temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius). In addition, they are a high-visibility yellow for color contrast when laser-engraved with a bar code, text or logo. The new tags have read ranges of up to 26.3 feet (8 meters) when mounted flush to plastic or wooden surfaces. Due to its vertical mount option, the Standard 200 tag delivers comparable read range performance even on wet or metal surfaces. The SlimFlex Standard 200 measures 3.27 inches by 0.98 inch by 0.12 inches (83 millimeters by 25 millimeters by 3 millimeters) and the SlimFlex Standard 301 measures 3.42 inches by 0.98 inch by 0.12 inches (87 millimeters by 25 millimeters by 3 millimeters). Both tags are made with Alien Technology‘s Higgs-3 ICs and feature 96 bits of Electronic Product Code (EPC) memory, a 64-bit tag identifier (TID) and 512 bits of user memory.
ADR’s RFID-enabled Workforce Monitoring Service Keeps Tabs on San Antonio Construction Projects
ADR Software has announced that its Workforce Monitor service, which leverages EPC Gen 2 passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology designed to track the number of workers at construction sites, has been selected by Turner Construction for use at six job sites located in San Antonio, Tex., during the next two years. The first deployment is already underway at Thomas Edison High School, and is slated to last for a period of 15 to 20 months, based on projected construction completion. The next school to utilize ADR’s solution will begin doing so in August 2013, according to ADR Software’s president, Marty Pollak, who adds that the six projects will involve the use of tags for hundreds of workers. Workforce Monitor is designed to help general contractors, owners, project managers and sub-contractors make faster and more informed workforce decisions, create accurate and timely project workforce documentation, meet contractual security obligations, improve safety awareness and response readiness, and reduce exposure to financial risk. Workforce Monitor utilizes EPC Gen 2 RFID tags embedded in all-weather job stickers affixed to hard hats and ID badges, in order to monitor workforce activity throughout the day without delays, interruptions or intrusions. At the Turner Construction projects in San Antonio, the service is leveraging Alien Technology‘s RFID products, including Alien’s Short inlays and UHF RFID antenna units. Workforce Monitor is currently monitoring more than 30,000 workers at construction sites throughout the United States, and has also been employed by other construction service providers, such as Holder Construction (see RFID News Roundup: ADR’s Automated Workforce Monitor Service Initiated at Texas Construction Sites) and WS Bellows Construction.
SATO Acquires Stake in Nexgen Packaging to Boost RFID Presence in Global Apparel and Retail Markets
SATO, a provider of bar-code printing, labeling and EPC RFID solutions, has announced a strategic investment in privately held company Nexgen Packaging, a provider of apparel brand-identification and packaging products. SATO has acquired a minority stake of less than 20 percent in Nexgen, according to SATO spokesperson Daphne Tay. Founded in 2006, Nexgen Packaging supplies brand-identification products to both apparel manufacturers and retailers for their private-label programs. Nexgen focuses its efforts on the design, marketing, manufacturing and distribution of woven and printed labels, as well as heat transfers, graphic tags, price tickets and item-level RFID labels and tags. SATO made the investment, Tay explains, in order to increase its market presence beyond Japan and in the apparel manufacturing and retail sectors. SATO has been selling RFID printers for several years, but is presently ramping up its RFID business, she says, adding that the company created a new business, SATO RFID Solutions Co. Ltd., in April 2013. In the near-term, SATO plans to develop additional RFID products, tags and labels, primarily for EPC Gen 2 applications, though the firm currently provides a variety of automatic-identification technologies. Nexgen will continue to operate as an independent entity, she says, and its current management team will remain in place. Going forward, SATO and Nexgen plan to leverage strategic benefits from each other, such as mutual RFID development and deployment, as well as leveraging SATO’s global footprint.
Wavetrend Selects Silent Partner Technologies as Its U.S. Distributor
Wavetrend, a U.K. provider of RFID technology for asset visibility and access control, has announced that it has signed on Silent Partner Technologies (SPT) as its lead distributor in the United States. SPT is an independent provider of various RFID technologies and solutions, and its clients include Hess, Mitre, BMW, Home Depot, Michelin, and Wal-Mart. Ted Kostis, SPT’s president, notes that his company has been providing and integrating the Wavetrend technology suite for nearly 10 years. The timing could not be better, he adds, considering SPT’s recent product launches, EMS solutions (see Emergency Medical Services Providers Try New Equipment-Managing RFID Solution) and offerings for the oil and gas sector, in which the Wavetrend product plays an integral part to the overall solution. One such joint solution was developed in partnership with OCTG Tubular Finishing Services, which inspects and finishes steel pipes used at oil-drilling sites and is currently using RFID to track personnel and tools at its facility near Houston, Texas (see Steel Tube Finishing Firm Tries RFID to Track Personnel, Tools).
Curie Institute, Biolog-id Team Up to Develop RFID System for Tracking Chemotherapy Preparations
Curie-Cancer, the group in charge of developing industry partnerships for the Institut Curie (Curie Institute), and Biolog-id, a French company that develops, manufactures and markets complete labeling and traceability solutions under some 20 international patents, have partnered to develop an RFID solution for use in tracking bags of pharmaceuticals used for chemotherapy. The Curie Institute is a French hospital group founded in 1909 by Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize—and the award’s first double-winner. The institute combines cancer research and patient care, and employs approximately 3,200 scientists, physicians, nurses, technicians and administrative staff. Curie-Cancer and Biolog-id say they hope to make it possible to comprehensively track chemotherapy preparations through the entire process, from centralized pharmacy preparation to administration to patients in health-care settings. Within a multi-site hospital setting like the Curie Institute, the drug circuit is a structured process involving multiple functions, and the more steps (prescribing, preparing, dispensing and administering), clinical stakeholders (doctors, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and nurses) and information and product flows involved, the more complex the process and the greater the potential for error, according to the two organizations. Such errors include the preparation of a chemotherapy treatment intended for one health-care department being routed to another. Given the considerable cost of some cancer drugs, as well as the disruption to activity within the department, such an error can have significant consequences. In such an environment, cost control, safety, quality control and standards are crucial. The solution being developed by the two organizations will leverage technology that Biolog-id has created for tracing blood bags (see RFID News Roundup: Fenwal Signs Deal to Become Exclusive Provider of Biolog-id Blood-tracking System), and Biolog-id intends to apply its expertise to the monitoring and tracking of bags of drugs used for chemotherapy. The bags will have RFID labels affixed to them, and the tag information will be updated automatically at different stages of the process (preparation, transportation and administration). Preparations thus become “intelligent,” supporting the storage of additional information, such as drug dosage and patient identity, as well as stages in manufacture, inspection and routing, according to the two organizations. The project involves more than a dozen people, with the initial aim of defining the technical specifications for Biolog-id’s proposed traceability solution in conjunction with medical staff, and then testing it in parallel with the existing system. Biolog-id’s goal, the companies note, is to verify the pilot solution in place at the Curie Institute, and then make it available to other institutions in France and worldwide.
Toppan NFC Tags Provides Info, Deals and Services to Visitors in Tokyo’s Shibuya Area
Tokyo’s Shibuya district, filled with shopping, nightlife and the Shibuya Station, one of city’s busiest railway stations, is implementing Near Field Communication (NFC) technology as part of this month’s “Shibuya Clickable Project,” in an effort to provide visitors and residents with a variety of services and information. The initiative is being spearheaded by CyberAgent, a Japanese Internet company, in cooperation with Shibuya Television Co., Ltd. and Toppan Printing, and will include various commercial businesses located in the vicinity of Shibuya Station. The initiative includes stickers provided by Toppan, featuring embedded NFC tags affixed to about 300 streetlight poles along Shibuya Koen-dori, Dogenzaka, and Miyamasuzaka, around Shibuya Station. When visitors or residents hold their NFC-enabled smart phones near the stickers, information specific to that area will be downloaded onto their phones, such as special deals redeemable at neighborhood restaurants or event information.