We are a nonprofit organization that would like to use RFID wristbands for an event we are hosting.
—Name withheld
———
I’m not a software expert, so I turned to one Ken Traub. Ken founded a company called Connecterra, an RFID software firm that was bought by BEA Systems (which, in turn, was purchased by Oracle). Ken was also intimately involved in writing the specification for EPCglobal‘s EPC Information Service (EPCIS), a set of protocols for sharing RFID EPC data. Here is his response:
“You will need a computer to host the database, and software to take the data from the reader and put it into the database. Such software is usually called RFID middleware, and there are many such products available on the market. Some RFID reader manufacturers provide a very rudimentary form of middleware with their readers, and this might be adequate for your needs.
“More likely, you will want to work with a more fully featured software package that will give you flexibility as to what data is gathered, and how. A fully featured middleware product may also provide tools for building a more complete tracking application, including the ability to generate reports from the database, maintain correspondence between the wristband ID and the wearer’s name, provide workflows for adding and removing people, and so on.”
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal