AIM Global Unveils Top-Five Predictions for RFID Industry in 2008
AIM Global, the worldwide industry trade association and authority on automatic identification and mobility solutions, unveils five predictions that highlight important trends, developments, and innovations that will significantly impact the landscape of the RFID industry in 2008 and beyond. These predictions reinforce the association's expertise in RFID technologies.
This year's predictions are:
1. Consumers will see more innovative, practical RFID applications in familiar settings, such as sports and toy and food safety. In 2007, the RFID sector made a concerted effort to reach well beyond the supply chain to extend the promise and benefits of RFID technologies to consumers. Such innovative RFID deployments are being seen today in the sports, healthcare, toy manufacturing, and food processing sectors to guarantee product integrity and safety. For example, in the sports world, numerous companies are now using RFID to authenticate sports memorabilia; speed skiers through lift lines at resorts; validate tickets at sporting events, including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; and track marathon runners to ensure race time accuracy. With many recalls of contaminated foods and unsafe toys in 2007, RFID can enable firms to immediately track the origins of compromised food and toys, and cease production of goods before harming consumers. These trends will continue in 2008, with broader initiatives and more applications projected to positively impact consumers.
2. Expanded integration of RFID into mobile devices and other electronics products will provide consumers with new services and greater convenience. Handset manufacturers, network providers, search engine companies, and software providers increasingly view mobile devices and other consumer electronics products as important tools for interacting with, and providing services to, consumers and businesses alike. Consequently, consumers are now using multi-functional mobile devices to manage voice calls, e-mail, text messages, multimedia, location-based information, personal finance accounts, and many other aspects of their personal lives. In 2008, as RFID readers begin to be integrated into these mobile devices, a greater number of consumer-oriented applications will become available that allow users to become more efficient in their everyday lives as they utilize their devices to interact with other technologies, service providers, advertisers and, of course, other people.
3. The Convergence of RFID and other wireless technologies Is inevitable. Today, individuals and organizations are more demanding than ever. Access to more granular information about the location, identification, movement, temperature, and security of products can provide real convenience and value to exacting businesses, and in turn, to consumers. As a result, the ongoing convergence of RFID, RTLS, GPS, sensor, and other wireless technologies in 2008 will spur a "disappearance" of these acronyms as businesses, and individuals to a certain extent, become more accustomed to the myriad benefits they make possible.
4. RFID technologies will continue to enhance homeland security initiatives. From transportation worker identification cards (TWIC), to border cards, to RFID-based e-Seals on cargo containers, RFID is currently being deployed in numerous ways to improve homeland security without hampering international trade. The ability to automatically identify transportation workers with a combination of biometrics and wireless authentication, as well as e-Seals that alert officials upon unauthorized openings of containers (and account for 90% of world trade), are just two examples of how RFID will continue to address current vulnerabilities in the global supply chain in 2008. e-Seals (which can automatically locate containers) improve operational efficiency, and ultimately reduce the overall cost of transporting goods.
5. RFID deployments will gain traction within "The First 100 Feet" of the supply chain, as well as "The Last 100 Feet" at retail. International shippers and manufacturers are now focusing on item-level tagging of goods, as well as the tagging of containers at source factories, known as "The First 100 Feet," because it is less expensive to do so, and provides greater end-to-end visibility. This strategy results in more effective management of goods, and reductions in manufacturing and shipping costs. In addition, this approach enables product authentication at the beginning of the supply chain, and facilitates detection of tampering, such as theft or terrorist intrusions to the container, at any point in the process, which typically involves 10-20 "hand-offs" of the container by different parties. In retail environments, commonly referred to as "The Last 100 Feet," further inroads of RFID technologies into storefronts, as well as other applications that enhance the shopping experience, will be seen by consumers in 2008. These innovations will further demonstrate the complete value of RFID throughout the entire retail supply chain, including increasing sales by ensuring the availability and cross-selling of related items.
"Throughout its 35-year history, AIM Global has invested significant time and resources in closely monitoring RFID industry trends to provide strategic, real-time guidance to its diverse membership base," says Dan Mullen, President of AIM Global. "These predictions showcase the priorities, segments, and applications that enterprises can potentially leverage in the coming year to benefit their respective businesses. Furthermore, this forecast also provides strong anecdotal evidence regarding the ongoing evolution of the RFID industry, and how these changing dynamics are accelerating the development of beneficial consumer-oriented applications in many different environments."
Magellan Technology's PJM RFID Products Enable Reliable Tracking of Original Documents
Magellan Technology announces the release of a full range of Phase Jitter Modulation (PJM) RFID products targeted for document control applications. Only Magellan's PJM StackTag® technology, which complies with the international standard ISO/IEC 18000-3 Mode 2, has the ability to communicate with RFID tags even when they are stacked without any separation. This unique attribute enables the reliable tracking of original documents, including single page documents, on desks, in folders, on shelves, or in archive boxes.
Keeping track of original documents once they are signed and kept as evidence is important due to legal and auditing purposes. This is especially vital at law firms, financial institutions, hospitals, government offices, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as educational institutions for tracking documents such as original exam papers. Original documents often travel from department to department, and as they are handled by more and more people, the likelihood of their being misplaced or lost increases dramatically.
Only Magellan's unique PJM StackTag® technology can effectively communicate with hundreds of tightly stacked tags that have virtually no separation, like RFID tags on single page documents. Today all other RFID tags stop working when they are next to each other and could not be reliably used for document tracking. The PJM anti-collision protocol allows users to reliably manage more than 16,000 tagged items, pages or files, per reader at identification speeds of 700 tags per second.
"There is a growing worldwide requirement for a technology to efficiently locate and track important, original and signed documents for legal or auditing purposes," says Bodo Ischebeck, Chief Executive Officer of Magellan Technology. "Today only PJM's unique StackTag RFID technology is able to reliably monitor and track thousands of documents throughout the office and archive environment even when single page documents are tightly stacked."
PJM RFID products are currently being used in document control applications in Europe, Asia, and Japan. A dedicated video clip is available on the Magellan website that demonstrates the use of PJM RFID products for document control applications.
RFID Training Now Available in Pearl River Delta Region, China
OTA Training and GS1 Hong Kong announce a partnership to bring comprehensive RFID education to the Pearl River Delta Region(PRD), China. The collaboration will bring the most current RFID Training to one of the fastest growing RFID markets in the world.
The initial training will be held at the Supply Chain Innovation Centre. The Centre, established in February of 2007, will facilitate the student's understanding of RFID technology through real-world demonstrations and hands-on exercises while showcasing the latest EPC/RFID solutions.
"RFID will be essential to helping one of the world's manufacturing bases, the Pearl River Delta Region in China to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve information flow between companies and their trading partners — both within China and around the world," says Robert Sabella, CEO and Founder of OTA Training. "We're pleased to offer training that will build the country's RFID expertise and help seed the adoption process for this technology."
With China accounting for the largest RFID spend in the market by value this year; partnerships, like the one between GS1 Hong Kong and OTA Training, will become essential in order to grow the number of skilled workers to meet the demand of future RFID implementations. The country is widely expected to continue to become a major RFID market due to the need for source tagging of its manufactured goods.
"We believe it's a great match because OTA Training excels at providing RFID training driven by real-world experience," says Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 Hong Kong. "We're excited to work with a partner with this level of expertise, especially one who shares our commitment to vendor-neutral advancement of RFID technology."
Students who attend will have the opportunity to conduct hands-on exercises and develop a comprehensive understanding of how to implement RFID. In addition to the training, students will be given the opportunity to become CompTIA RFID+ certified upon completion of the course.
Through this agreement OTA and GS1 Hong Kong will help establish a solid knowledge base of RFID in the PRD, China. In addition to expanding awareness and knowledge of RFID among adopters, future trainings will encourage the development of integrated RFID solutions in Hong Kong and throughout the PRD, China.
To register or learn more about OTA's RFID Training, visit www.otatraining.com or www.GS1hk.org.
