OmnitrolOmnitrol Networks Wins Frost & Sullivan Award

Frost & Sullivan has presented Omnitrol Networks (www.omnitrol.com) with the 2007 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation. The award recognizes the OMNITROL, the company's application network appliance solution that delivers real-time operational visibility and distributed asset tracking services managing wireless devices, RFID data, and readers. The OMNITROL edgeware appliance further integrates secure WiFi LAN router and sensor network capability with a powerful business services application platform evolving the enterprise into a real-time intelligent edge network.

"The OMNITROL was designed as a Telco-grade network appliance with as many applications and standard protocol options as possible, giving it unique versatility compared to other products in the market," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Brendon Ouimette.

While it incorporates RFID device, and data management, the OMNITROL appliance focuses on leveraging on multi-application networking. The OMNITROL has three significant value-adds for end-users: ease of deployment, versatility, and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). These features address three of the most critical challenges in RFID end-user adoption.

The appliance has the advantage of being easy to program with automatic application federation for scalability: once it has been configured, installing and deploying the solution across the enterprise is a quick and low-cost process. The solution can simultaneously manage a number of data sources from different wireless and sensor technologies applying real-time application intelligence and control from a single platform. These attributes and others help to lower the TCO by integrating a number of features in a single product, at a lower overall cost, by providing a common platform and services architecture that can correlate real-time events across a number of different applications.

With OMNITROL, end-users will not have to upgrade their entire infrastructure to adapt to the latest technology change or workflow improvement. The OMNITROL encapsulates complete business services intelligence on the work-floor where business operations happen. The OMNITROL mitigates technology investment risk by minimizing integration with existing legacy systems; enabling customers to migrate at their own pace while still being "future-proofed".

"The Omnitrol EASE software platform is built to be able to create and manage business process applications and to be able to develop and implement new ones from a web-based interface," states Ouimette. "When new applications for RFID technology become available, the OMNITROL is capable of being quickly upgraded to meet these new business demands by virtue of its devices adaptation and services deployment software application layers and its panoply of I/O hardware interfaces."

METRO Group Teams with Reva, Sirit, Checkpoint, and Intermec for RFID Rollouts

METRO RFID network infrastructure provider Reva Systems (www.revasystems.com) announces that METRO Group (www.metrogroup.de) is deploying Reva's Tag Acquisition Processor™ (TAP) products in the largest production-scale RFID rollout in Europe. Initially encompassing about 200 locations of the sales brands Metro Cash & Carry, Real stores, and the METRO Group distribution centers, the rollout entails installing Reva's technology at each location. Reva's RFID network infrastructure provides a key component that enables Metro's RFID architecture to support current and future RFID initiatives.

Reva's TAP products will be used to manage the distributed network of RFID installations, to produce accurate data from each site, and to provide rapid operator feedback. For the initial phase of the rollout, METRO Group is primarily using RFID to enhance its distribution and store receiving processes by using accurately located tag data for more efficient operations, better customer service and improved inventory management.

Reva Reva's products were selected mainly because they provide the standards-based RFID network infrastructure layer that METRO Group requires for its production deployments. Many RFID pilots have lacked the infrastructure necessary to successfully transition from pilot to production. For METRO Group, critical requirements include the Reva TAP capability to control all RFID readers in METRO's facilities, to process raw tag data into accurate information, and to determine real tag locations in difficult environments. The elimination of duplicate tag observations and the refinement of tag relevance are also critical infrastructure requirements. At METRO Group, this is necessary in operations areas such as loading docks in order to rapidly provide operators with feedback validating goods shipped and received.

Sirit Also recently announced by METRO is the selection of Sirit's INfinity 510 UHF RFID reader for its 2007 rollout program at 99 Real hypermarket locations throughout Germany. Through this agreement, an INfinity 510 reader will be installed in each of the 99 locations to track incoming products. This selection comes after many months of competitive product testing. Checkpoint Systems will serve as the hardware integrator for the project. Visit Sirit at www.sirit.com.

Lastly, METRO has approved two Intermec (www.intermec.com) RFID starter packs, specially tailored to the needs of the consumer goods industry, which will be offered to its suppliers. The preconfigured application contained in the packs makes it possible to easily fit pallets and boxes with RFID tags. Both packs contain an Intermec PM4i RFID-enabled printer and SF51 Bluetooth barcode scanner. Additionally, the second expended option also contains an Intermec RFID portal for full recording of incoming and outgoing goods.

ODIN technologies Releases the First Benchmark of European RFID Readers

ODIN technologies releases the industry's first benchmark of European RFID Readers. The European RFID Reader Benchmark™ compares performance of the seven leading ETSI-compliant UHF RFID readers in both a controlled laboratory setting, and then in real world settings. The report is the first handbook to guide European end-users in the optimal technology choice for their RFID program. ODIN technologies does not manufacture RFID readers, tags, or printers, and the company maintains strict independence in testing all RFID gear, therefore the report provides critical insight unavailable to end-users any place else.

The benchmark was developed to provide end-users with objective insight into the RFID reader performance from a European perspective. It is complementary to previous ODIN reader benchmarks relating to readers designed for operations in the U.S. and provides the first scientific evaluation of European readers. Following ODIN's recent announcement of a five year contract with Airbus, this publication also reflects ODIN's growing European capabilities and focus.

"The goal of the European RFID Reader Benchmark™ is to provide end-users with an accurate and comprehensive tool to make the best decision regarding RFID readers," says Patrick J. Sweeney II, President and CEO of ODIN technologies. "We created the benchmark because reader selection and implementation is a critical and costly aspect of each project. Making the wrong reader decision drives the difference between a smashing success and complete failure."

Sweeney adds: "The benchmark helps distill the grand marketing claims of reader vendors by providing a fact-based performance comparison for common use cases. In reality, there is no Silver Bullet - some readers are more capable than others; they work extremely well under certain circumstances, but not as well in others. End-users can leverage the European RFID Reader Benchmark™ to select their vendor short lists, more critically assess vendor capabilities, and reduce their reader selection risk. The results of the tests are all laid out clearly for end-users to make informed decisions."

The European RFID Reader Benchmark™ is ODIN's ninth published benchmark and it represents a milestone for RFID reader development for Europe. It is only recently that there were sufficient, production quality European reader choices available to assemble a comprehensive scientific comparison. The benchmark results show clearly where North American manufacturers have benefited from their extensive experience in U.S. based deployments and where European manufactures are working to catch up.

Using six scientific tests and three common use case tests to characterize and compare RFID reader performance, the benchmark provides end-users with information to make the best reader selection decision for their respective businesses. The six scientific tests include: power output, occupied channel power, receive sensitivity, Interference rejection, tag acquisition speed, and read distance. The three common RFID use cases tested include: conveyor, stretch wrapper, adjacent dock door portals with Listen Before Talk (LBT) protocol, and adjacent dock door portals with proposed ETSI EN 302-208. Two different adjacent dock door tests were conducted because there is a proposal to replace the current LBT ETSI standard. This evaluation represents the first published independent analysis of LBT compared to the proposed ETSI EN 302-208 specification.

Seven readers were tested in the benchmark. ODIN technologies only investigated production readers configured with production release firmware. All of the readers tested are available for purchase today. The readers tested include: Alien ALR8800, Caen A968EU, Feig ID ISC.LRU2000, Impinj URP1000-ETSI, Intermec IF61, Motorola XR480EU, and Sirit IN510. Siemens, makers of the Simatic RS600R, was the only major manufacturer that refused to have their equipment benchmarked against the industry leaders, therefore ODIN recommends end-users considering deployment of their technology do so at their own risk.

The European RFID Reader Benchmark™ is available for download now at the ODIN technologies Store (www.ODINtechnologies.com/store). The cost is $1,500 for an enterprise use business license and $750 for single user academic license.

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