RFID World Keynote Speakers from ThingMagic and Best Buy International

Robert Willett, CEO of Best Buy International

Kevin Ashton, Vice President of ThingMagic

The opening day keynote addresses for the 5th Annual RFID World convention will be presented by Kevin Ashton, Vice President of ThingMagic, and Robert Willett, Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy International. Their presentations will be held on March 27th, from 11:15-12:15.

Ashton will be joined by Yael Maguire, the Chief Technology Officer for ThingMagic, to take a look at what's changing in RFID technology and demonstrate some of the new inventions and products. Their presentation, "RFID Next: Innovations in RFID for 2007 and Beyond," will be the first of the keynote presentations. Ashton has a number of accomplishments under his belt that include becoming Executive Director of the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after co-founding it, and leading the organization to invent the Electronic Product Code system for ubiquitous RFID. Maguire holds an impressive title as being recognized as a "Top 100 Innovator Under the Age of 35" by Technology Review magazine, and as a "Technology Pioneer" by the World Economic Forum.

Willet will be presenting his address, "How RFID is Innovating the Retail Customer Experience," directly after Ashton. This presentation will focus on Best Buy's pallet- and item-level tagging pilots that have taken place since January 2006. Packaged entertainment media are being tested at the item level to improve customer service, in-stock availability, and the re-stocking of shelves. This type of product was chosen to test tag readability compared to the product's metal content, small package size, and high volumes.