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CompTIA Breakaway 2008The Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) held its annual conference last week, Breakaway, at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, FL. The event brought business and thought leaders from the IT industry together and offered attendees educational, networking, and business opportunities. There was a bustling showfloor filled with over 100 vendors including manufacturers, distributors, value added resellers, systems integrators, independent software providers, service providers, and consultants. Lecture sessions were offered throughout the event, covering such topics as "Which Emerging Technologies Provide the Best Opportunities in the SMB Market" and "Greening the Desktop." And, traditionally, there was an awards dinner hosted by the outgoing CEO of CompTIA, John Venator, who presented trophies to companies being recognized for excellence. Entertaining the crowd afterwards was actor/comedian Martin Short. Venator, who has been with CompTIA for about 20 years, began his tenure while the organization was still referred to as the Association of Better Computer Dealers (ABCD). During his stay, CompTIA has grown from approximately 600 members in the U.S. to more than 22,000 member organizations in over 100 countries around the world. Todd Thibodeaux will be residing in Venator's place as President and CEO. Thibodeaux previously worked as worked as Senior Vice President of Industry Relations at CEA, who runs the annual International Consumer Electronics Show.
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During the event, CompTIA released the results of its annual RFID survey. According to it, the IT channel is seeing growth in RFID projects, with asset tracking and personal identification being the most popular uses. The worldwide survey of 155 IT companies found that 46% of their customers have implemented one or more RFID solutions, either as pilot projects or production deployments. This is an increase from a 2007 survey, when IT companies reported 34% of their customers had initiated RFID projects. The most popular RFID deployments now used by customers are asset tracking, cited by 32% of IT companies surveyed; personal identification (28%); supply chain (25%); retail marketing (15%); and closed-loop manufacturing (9%), according to the CompTIA survey. Customers come from a cross section of industries, including services, government, finance, healthcare, retail, communications, and manufacturing. "RFID offers adopters of the technology a number of benefits, from improvements in manufacturing, inventory and distribution processes, to reduced costs for product theft, spoilage or obsolescence," says Thibodeaux. "It's incumbent on our industry, with help from organizations such as CompTIA, to help customers overcome any obstacles to RFID usage and help them benefit from the efficiencies RFID can deliver." Among the RFID products and services IT companies say they're delivering to customers today are: hardware installation and maintenance (62%); consulting (46%); training (43%); and software implementations (40%). The Web-based survey, conducted during the second quarter of 2008, questioned IT channel companies on their current and future intentions for addressing RFID. Visit www.comptia.org. LCWaikiki of Turkey Implements Alien® RFID Solution for Garment Tracking at its Flagship Store
STS Technology, a leading RFID systems integrator in Turkey and a member of Alien Technology®'s Value Added Solutions Provider (VASP) channel partner network, installed a STS/Alien RFID garment tagging project at LCWaikiki's flagship store in downtown Istanbul. STS used an RFID/EAS combo hard tag to tag each of the twenty-four thousand articles of clothing LCWaikiki sells for men, women and children. "We have noticed that using different vendors for tags and readers can lead to a lack of accountability in the application's success. It was very important to us that one vendor guarantee the complete solution by providing both readers and tags," says Levent Yalcinkaya, Technopark Director for STS. "We chose the Alien solution because Alien's hardware out-performs all other readers and tags in the marketplace today." Every unique article of clothing at LCWaikiki's flagship store is tagged with a single hard tag that encases both an EAS (electronic article surveillance) anti-theft sensor and an Alien UHF/EPC compliant Gen 2 Squiggle-Short inlay. The RFID portion of the tag enables LCWaikiki to track all processes from stock receipts, stockroom/sales replenishment, inventory management, product detection, customer returns, stocktaking, and store-to-store transfers. As a result of its RFID deployment, LCWaikiki has seen a 60% time reduction in stocktaking and a 70% time savings in the transfer of stock from the storeroom to the sales area. This improved efficiency translates into significant cost savings for LCWaikiki, and helps the company maintain its very competitive price points. "A typical RFID installation addresses the automation or streamlining of a particular process, but the LCWaikiki deployment is unique in that Alien's RFID solutions are being used as the central data capture method for storing all retail data," says Stephen Crocker, Director of Channel Sales for EMEA and India for Alien Technology. "The LCWaikiki project represents one of Europe's first full-scale RFID installations in a retail environment, and is a highly effective application that addresses LCWaikiki's business needs and provides measurable return on investment." The next phase in the project involves rolling out the solution to all 190 of LCWaikiki's stores. Achieves Quick ROI: Folder Misplaced Eight Months Located Immediately
"We researched their experience in Marin County and found it to be very satisfactory," says Mike Gilchrist, IT manager in the Butte County DA's office, which employs 27 attorneys and has a total staff of 105. Oroville, the county seat, is about 70 miles north of Sacramento. "Keeping track of who has a given file and making it available where and when it's needed can be a real headache, just as it is for law firms, especially when a case takes months or even years before going to trial," Gilchrist explains. "We needed a more productive system for tracking and retrieval, and found that RFID technology provides the answer." He notes that when RFID tags were affixed to open active files, a file folder that had been misplaced for the past eight months was immediately located. "In general, it's been a quick success, and we find that it's a great tool for assembling files for court," says Gilchrist. "Our estimate is that we've been losing about 1.7 person years to the unproductive tasks of hunting down files and assembling files. That's all changed now." He continues: "In any given week, it was the norm to see seven or eight e-mails from people desperate to locate a file. Since we began using the RFID system, I haven't seen even one like that. It's a thing of the past." An important factor in choosing the 3M RFID File Tracking System is its ability to interface with Constellation Justice System's DAMION attorney case management software, used by many prosecuting attorney agencies throughout the country. "The value of RFID in the legal environment is gaining wide recognition, not just among law firms but also in legal administration and law enforcement," says Joal McAlister, Marketing Development Manager, 3M Track and Trace Solutions (www.3Mtrackandtrace.com). "It helps improve both efficiency and productivity, and therefore helps reduce cost and potential liability." RFID Training and Certification Now Available in Australia
Eugene Costabile has been appointed Director of Business Development for the Australasia Region and will be responsible for all regional operations. "RFID is a rapid growth technology, but the demand for skilled RFID professionals threatens the ability of the RFID industry to continue to cultivate this technology locally," he says. "Our local presence in Australia will now allow OTA to support and drive RFID adoption throughout the region." "We're excited to be a part of the bourgeoning RFID market in Australia," says OTA CEO and Founder, Robert Sabella. "In many ways the opportunity mirrors that of the U.S. where we've had great success teaching students how to achieve desired results in RFID implementations. But each country is unique in its needs, industries served, and experience levels, and Australia is no different. This is a challenge that we're really looking forward to."
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Alien Technology Corporation (
The District Attorney's Office of Butte County has become the second California DA's office to deploy a 3M RFID File Tracking System to manage and retrieve its thousands of case files. The office processes about 10,000 cases a year and maintains nearly 15,000 open case files at any given time. The District Attorney's staff in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco, has been using 3M RFID since 2005.
OTA Training LLC (
