The following are news announcements made during the week of Sept. 11.
Omron Announces HF Inlay with Aluminum Antenna
Omron RFID announced the availability of its V730S-D13-PO1 inlay, which has an aluminum antenna. Compliant with the ISO 15693 air-interface standard used in many access control and electronic payment applications, the HF (13.56 MHz) inlay is roughly the size of a credit card and, says Omron, achieves comparable performance with the copper version of the same-sized inlay. Omron notes it will continue manufacturing copper inlays for the HF market alongside the aluminum version. The company says some Omron customers prefer to purchase inlays made of aluminum because they are less costly to recycle. The V730S-D13-PO1 tag is also compliant with the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, which limits the use of certain hazardous materials in electronics.
Battery Maker Raises Millions for New Plant
Infinite Power Solutions (IPS), a maker of thin-film batteries that can be used to power active RFID tags, has raised $34.7 million in funding, which it will use primarily to build a high-volume manufacturing facility in Colorado. The company says it will also use the funds to accelerate business and product development. The D.E. Shaw group and Polaris Venture Partners led the investment. Other new IPS investors include Core Capital Partners and Applied Ventures (the venture capital fund of Applied Materials). Founded in 2001, IPS has developed a thin, flexible battery that can hold 60 milliamps of current, can be recharged and loses less than 1 percent of its power per year while not in use. The batteries range widely in price, from $1 to $10 or more each. According to IPS, a number of RFID tag manufacturers have tested the battery. When the new plant opens—which is slated to occur for late 2007—it will be able to produce multiple millions of the batteries each year. IPS’s current facility can only produce hundreds annually, though earlier estimations predicted it would produce millions (see Thin-Film Battery for RFID Sensors).
Avery Releases Compliance Package for Users of Pre-Encoded RFID Labels
Avery Dennison Printer Systems has announced a new labeling solution to help companies meet the RFID tagging requirements of major retailers and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The solution includes software, called ItemSight, bundled with a bar-code label printer (either the Avery Dennison AP5.4 printer or any in the 6400 series), plus an optional label applicator. No RFID interrogator or printer-encoder is required for DOD or retailer suppliers that also purchase pre-encoded RFID labels from Avery Dennison, because encoded to the bar codes on these labels is the serial number. Users would send this unique number to the receiver (DOD or a retailer) by scanning it into the ItemSight software, which generates an advance shipment notice (ASN) that is sent to the receiver electronically as the shipment is sent. Customers must choose between the DOD or retailer version of the ItemSight software. The package also comes with on-site installation support. It is available now and costs up to $10,000, depending on the type of hardware selected.
RSI ID Announces New Inlay Tester
RFID inlay manufacturer and systems integrator RSI ID Technologies says it has launched an automated transponder validation system, Pressiza TVS-2500R, which uses a pick-and-replace mechanism to remove failed inlays and replace them with functional ones. The system is designed for use by label converters that want to verify the functionality of each individual inlay in large rolls of finished labels prior to shipping them to customers. RSI ID says this new testing system costs less and is faster that older inlay testing systems it has sold. Converters can also use the system to encode data to the labels before shipping them. The Pressiza TVS-2500R is available now for just under $100,000.IER to Put Jewel Chips in Transit Tix
IER, a designer and manufacturer of inlays (chip and antenna assemblies) for RFID labels, as well as a manufacturer of ticketing, self-service and access control equipment for the major transportation networks, has signed a license deal to use Innovision Research & Technology’s (IRT) 13.56 MHz Jewel chip, for its mass transit products. The chip, a small IC used for contactless ticketing applications, will be integrated within IER’s new generation of RFID inlays aimed specifically at smart ticketing applications for mass transit. The inlays will be compliant with the ISO 14443A air interface protocol. According to IER, Jewel is the lowest-cost RFID chip made for mass-transit applications. At 0.59mm square, it is smaller than many other RFID ICs. The read range of the chip is up to 10cm.
SAP Certifies InSync Middleware for NetWeaver
Sunnyvale. Calif.-based InSync Software, a provider of RFID middleware, says enterprise software provider SAP has certified the use of InSync’s Edgeware Suite RFID middleware to run on SAP’s NetWeaver platform. This has earned it SAP’s “Powered by SAP NetWeaver” designation. To attain such status, InSync showed the middleware would be successfully deployed on the SAP Web Application Server and integrated into the SAP Enterprise Portal. The InSync software is designed to help end users put RFID tag data into a business context for materials management or physical asset tracking. SAP awards these certifications to products that can be seamlessly integrated with its NetWeaver platform.
ChainLink Web Courses for DOD Suppliers
ChainLink Research, a supply-chain research firm based in Cambridge, Mass., is offering a series of Web-based “eLearning Workshops” for DOD suppliers instructed by the company’s CEO, Ann Grackin; its chief research officer, Bill McBeath; and guest speakers including Alan Estevez, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense. The workshops are offered in the form of three modules, each consisting of two sessions. Module one, “Understanding RFID Policy & Data Requirements,” starts Oct. 2 with understanding DOD policy and concludes October 10 with advance shipping notices (ASNs), wide-area work flow (WAWF) and RFID data constructs. Module two, “Understanding RFID Solutions,” starts Oct. 24 with RFID technology basics and concludes Oct. 25 with the science behind RFID. Module three, “Keys to Getting Started,” starts Oct. 31 with understanding DOD supply chains and concludes Nov. 1 with implementation considerations. Each session will be held from noon to 1 p.m. EST. The sessions will be recorded and can be viewed by enrollees at a later time. Question-and-answer periods follow each session, and participants can follow up with instructors offline. Participants can attend just one module or the whole program. For more information, contact ChainLink Research.