This article was originally published by RFID Update.
March 14, 2005—Research firm Incucomm of Dallas, Texas, has released a 9-page recap of the RFID World conference held earlier this month. “RFID World Third Conference; Players, Posers, and Progress” makes a number of forceful observations about the show, and is worth taking the 10-minute, 13-question survey required to download it. Incucomm dispatched “mystery shoppers” that pressed vendor reps working the booths with educated questions to test their knowledge of RFID. While many companies faired quite well, others were apparently ill-equipped to discuss anything beyond the basics. Indeed, “more than one third of the firms exhibiting were unable to clearly articulate how they added value in an RFID solution, and in some cases, it was unclear what their offering was. It was very common for exhibitors to be unable to compare their offerings with those of their competitors.” The report also notes the surprising absence of major technology players and consulting firms IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Deloitte, and Capgemini, who have all taken pains to involve themselves in RFID.
In general, the report concludes that RFID World’s sold-out exhibitor space and high attendance indicates rapid maturation of the RFID space. While the sometimes confused or premature exhibitor offerings cast doubt on many vendors’ long-term prospects, their very presence was a testament to just how hot RFID continues to be.
Here’s the survey to get access to the report
