The following are news announcements made during the week of Dec. 4.
Academic RFID Offering RFID Training Across Canada
Montreal-based RFID educational organization Academia RFID recently launched RFID training and certification courses in cities throughout Canada, including Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saint-John, Halifax and Montreal, where it has built an RFID lab. Academia RFID University researchers from the University of Montreal’s École Polytechnique, University of Sherbrooke and University of Québec created Academia RFID to provide education and others services to public and private organizations interested in discovering and implementing RFID technology and practices. All of the classes, offered in both English and French, are designed for a variety of types of people looking for RFID education, from executives, analysts and managers, to project leaders and engineers. Academia RFID also offers RFID consulting services, site surveys and assessments, and has developed RFID best practices through its founder’s on-site experience with RFID deployments for such firms as Hydro-Québec, the Société des Alcools du Québec and Siemens. Academia RFID, a CompTIA Learning Alliance partner, is offering preparatory courses for the CompTIA RFID+ certification exam, which it also administers on behalf of CompTIA, a nonprofit organization providing certifications for technology professionals. A course calendar with class descriptions is available on the Acamedia RFID Web site. Course fees range from C$900 to C$2,300. The CompTIA RFID+ Training & Certification course will also be offered at RFID Journal LIVE! 2007, to be held in Orlando from May 30 to Apr. 2.
GlobeRanger Provides Software Package for DOD Compliance
GlobeRanger, a Richardson, Texas, provider of supply chain management software, has launched a new product called the Department of Defense Supplier Solution Accelerator. The offering is built for Department of Defense (DOD) suppliers that have come or will soon come under the department’s RFID mandate, enabling them to tag certain deliverables, including packaged operational rations, clothing, individual equipment, tools, personal demand items or weapon-system repair parts. The GlobeRanger product is built on the company’s iMotion Edgeware middleware platform and will allow users to meet the DOD’s tagging requirements as noted in the agency’s Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS) regulations. This package will automate the generation of advance shipping notices (ASN) suppliers need to send to the DOD depot through the department’s electronic Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) system. The offering is available now; pricing varies depending on the needs of the customer.
NCR Enhances Auto-ID Software
NCR today announced the newest version of its TransitionWorks software platform, which debuted in February (see NCR Announces RFID Software Suite) and is designed to help companies pull valuable data from RFID and other auto-ID technologies. NCR says version 5.2 of the software features enhancements enabling users to design, deploy and manage traditional and mobile business solutions that use RFID, bar codes, biometrics and other auto-ID technologies. This is possible, it says, through improved device-integration functions that can better control RFID interrogators and similar hardware, while also enabling the faster processing of data collected by RFID and other auto-ID technologies. The software now also supports an expanded number of RFID readers, and includes a graphical process modeling function that lets non-programmers design systems using auto-ID technology. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) capabilities of TransitionWorks 5.2 have been enhanced to allow XML files to be used as a miniature database in a TransitionWorks-built application, the company says, which may improve the app’s efficiency. In addition to these tools for auto-ID solution developers, the updated software also includes predesigned software modules targeted for the consumer goods manufacturing, distribution and retailing industries. The modules enable manufacturers of consumer and packaged goods to comply with retailer mandates; and they also can be used for item-level tagging products.
NiceLabel Announces RFID and Bar-Code Label Programs
NiceLabel, a Milwaukee-based provider of printing software, has announced its Enterprise Series bar-code and RFID labeling software. The product family is designed for use in such labeling applications as enterprise-wide system management, monitoring and alerting of printer and print job status, and high-volume printing. By linking to a warehouse-management or enterprise resource-planning program, the NiceLabel software pulls together all of the essential data needed for an RFID-enabled shipping label required by a retailer such as Wal-Mart. It then sends a print command to the RFID printer-encoder the end user has installed, including instructions on the specific EPC to encode to an inlay. NiceLabel supports printer-encoders from Zebra, Printronix, Avery Dennison, Intermec and Cognitive, among others. The NiceLabel Enterprise Series includes two main editions: NiceWatch Enterprise and NiceLabel Print Center. The NiceWatch Enterprise edition is a server-based, enterprise-level labeling solution for high-volume label printing with centralized administration. It includes the NiceLabel Enterprise Print Manager, a Web-based central controller used by a system administrator to manage client licenses, the status of the printer and print job, and alert notification, along with other functions from any Web browser through an intranet or the Internet. NiceWatch Enterprise offers event-triggered label printing and is designed for a company requiring fast throughput of label printing on multiple printers or print-and-apply engines. The NiceLabel Print Center is a client-based labeling solution that can be controlled centrally over all NiceLabel clients in a network environment. The NiceLabel Print Center also uses the Web-based Enterprise Print Manager to manage printers, print jobs and notifications. The licensing fee for the NiceWatch Enterprise software is a flat $3,995, while the NiceLabel Print Center license starts at $2,995 for five users. The software packages are available now.