This article was originally published by RFID Update.
December 16, 2004—The wait is finally over: GEN 2 has been ratified. EPCglobal released a statement Thursday officially announcing the milestone. After months of collaborative and intensive work with 60 technology and end-user companies from around the world, EPCglobal successfully met its goal of a pre-yearend GEN 2 ratification. Now the multitude of RFID vendors that had been waiting to release new products until after the standard was ratified will move forward. “With the Generation 2 standard now in place, technology providers will create products that will meet the requirements of suppliers, manufacturers, and end users; and industries as a whole can drive EPC implementation with standards-based equipment.”
While this announcement was indeed expected to come this month, it nonetheless represents good news for the RFID industry. Questions regarding intellectual property had complicated the standards-setting process and sowed doubt throughout the industry about if and how such issues would be overcome (see “GEN 2 is Royalty-Free” below). Now the industry can heave a collective sigh, just in time for 2005 and the upcoming fierce competition between GEN 2-compliant vendors finally able to spread their wings.
Read the article at EPCglobal
