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ARCHIVED NEWS AND ARTICLES
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2011 Interview with Raj Bridgelall on the Current and Future State of RFID
Discussion with Raj Bridgelall, Ph.D., formerly Vice President R&D, Alien Technology and RFID Chief Technologist, Motorola Solutions regarding the development of several RFID standards initiatives and adjacent RF technologies.
2008
RFID INDUSTRY RECAP
published by RFIDUpdate
9 Things RFID Will Be Remembered for in
'08, Part 1
This article is Part 1 of a three-part
series that recaps the top RFID
developments from 2008. This installment
focuses on advances in UWB, passive UHF
and NFC technologies. Tomorrow's Part 2
will examine startups, funding, and M&A
in the RFID vendor landscape, and Part 3
will identify new trends and provide an
outlook for 2009.
9 Things RFID Will Be Remembered for in
'08, Part 2
This is the second installment of a
three-part series recapping the top nine
RFID developments from 2008. This
article covers how the RFID vendor
community was changed by mergers,
acquisitions, divestitures, startups and
venture funding. Yesterday's
Part 1 covered technology
developments, and tomorrow's conclusion
will identify new trends and the 2009
outlook.
9 Things RFID Will Be Remembered for in
'08, Part 3
This article concludes a three-part
series that recaps the top RFID
developments from 2008. This final
installment highlights prominent
security-related activity, updates
ongoing trends and shares thoughts on
how the overall economy may impact the
RFID industry.
Part 1 covered technology
developments, and
Part 2 documented merger,
acquisition, startup and investment
activity.
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Summary of Observations from the
EPCglobal Conference, October 2007 in
Chicago
RFID Recruiters attended
the EPCglobal conference. The following
is a summary of RFID Recruiters'
observations.
This year's conference
was jointly sponsored by EPCglobal and
RFID Journal under the theme "EPC
Connect." From EPCglobal's
perspective the recent unveiling of
various EPCIS initiatives is
demonstrating that the standards
organization is driving beyond tag and
reader specifications to an architecture
in which RFID data can be effectively
delivered as business information into
enterprise systems.
In keeping with the EPC
Connect theme one of the more notable
developments was the relatively high
profile taken my Microsoft.
Microsoft made its case for why
Microsoft software and in particular
BizTalk should be considered as a key
technology for connecting the RFID edge
environment with interior enterprise
applications. In addition to
Microsoft, the relatively high profile
taken by Intel and also Hewlett Packard
signaled that these leading IT providers
along with IBM and other IT leaders are
committed to pursuing and developing the
RFID market. One result of this is
that the RFID industry is continuing to
develop a healthy commitment to
advancing RFID system architectures that
are increasingly standardized so as to
enable rapid and dependable "plug n
play" implementations in IT
environments. RFID Recruiters
views this as a very important trend
that will move the industry beyond
one-off industrial custom solutions to
configurable, increasingly repeatable,
dependable, and highly scalable IT
solutions.
On the business front,
the prevailing sentiment among
conference attendees was that the RFID
industry is transitioning from a focus
on mandated compliance projects to
internally (user organization) motivated
implementations. Confidence
remains high that RFID holds the power
to automate and drive the transformation
of many business processes
from production to distribution across
virtually all industries in both closed
loop and open loop environments.
At the same time this outlook is
tempered by the recognition that
transformations will happen sector by
sector and application by application.
Perhaps even more strategically, the
conference raised awareness that in many
areas production and distribution chains
are likely to increasingly converge
across sectors and verticals.
The conference reflected
a maturing of the RFID industry in which
best practices are steadily and
continually surfacing through the
information sharing and collaboration of
individuals and organizations within
many verticals and sectors including retail and CPG,
music and entertainment, information
technology and electronics,
pharmaceuticals and healthcare,
chemicals, energy, transportation and
logistics, automotive and heavy
equipment, aerospace, defense, and
others. One popular sentiment is
that while RFID applications often begin
in closed loops, such as Work In
Progress manufacturing environments,
many such tagging initiatives are likely
to subsequently result in tagged
products and other tagged assets moving
beyond the initially closed loop thereby
finding their way into open loop
applications. This recognition
that initial tagging applications can
spawn new applications has reinforced
the importance of adopting
standards-based solutions even within
closed loop environments.
Another theme that ran
throughout the conference was the sense
that the industry has little doubt that
the necessary price points and
technological performance levels will be
achieved sufficient to drive way beyond
pallet and case tagging to item level
tagging. Various item level
applications ranging from
pharmaceuticals to apparel are vying to
achieve the tipping point needed to
unleash very large scale RFID item
tagging. RFID Recruiters believes
that such a tipping point will require a
high degree of focus on the successful
design and implementation of very
specific "full solutions" but that such
full solutions are technologically and
economically within reach.
In summary, RFID
Recruiters viewed the EPCglobal
conference to be a valuable opportunity
to ground attendees with the latest
insight into the challenges and
opportunities ahead for RFID. RFID
Recruiters continues to believe that
RFID is destined to become nothing less
than the basic building block for
Pervasive Computing - and we continue to
believe that the people and
organizations who deliver focused full
solutions will be those who deliver the
most value to their constituents and who
achieve the greatest level of success.
(For more on RFID
Recruiters' view of how the RFID
industry is evolving toward its
destination in the realm of Pervasive
Computing,
click here.)
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Melanie Murphy
Joins RFID Recruiters
as Director of Recruiting
Click here for
Press Release
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Summary of Observations from the
EPCglobal Conference, October 2006 in
Los Angeles
RFID Recruiters attended
the EPCglobal conference. The following
is a summary of RFID Recruiters'
observations.
As expected the
conference focused largely on passive
tag technology for supply chain
applications. While EPCglobal expresses
an openness to frequencies other than
UHF and a desire to harness active tag
technology the current state of focus is
heavily on Gen 2 (UHF passive) tagging.
The key take away from the conference is
that between GS1, EPCglobal, and
Wal-Mart there is an enormous amount of
momentum that has been created for
RFID. While RFID Recruiters is
confident that active tag technology,
sensors, and other capabilities beyond
UHF passive technology will also play an
extremely large role in the evolution of
RFID, EPC Gen 2 supply chain management
is the most visible face of all
commercial RFID applications. What is
perhaps not so visible to many people
following RFID is the highly committed
leadership role being played by GS1.
From the GS1 2005/2006
Annual Report:
GS1 is the result of the
union between EAN International and the
Uniform Code Council. GS1 encompasses
the Global Data Synchronization Network
(GDSN) with more than 10,000 companies
populating the network through seven
interconnected data pools � which
provides an agreed upon data quality
protocol used between trading partners.
GS1 is the most widely used supply chain
standards system in the world.
GS1 is a fully integrated global
organization
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104 member organizations representing all points in the
supply chain
-
Over a million companies doing business across 145
countries
GS1 operates in multiple sectors &
industries
-
Over 20 represented sectors ranging from Fast Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCG) to healthcare,
transport, defense, aerospace�
The conference provided a
glimpse of the major revolution that is
taking place in worldwide electronic
commerce. In fact, GS1 has created
a framework for organizing trading
partners on an unprecedented worldwide
scale.
GS1 considers EPCglobal
to be no less than its �standards
factory�. When viewed in this context
it becomes clear that Gen 2 tags are
just the tip of an enormous effort that
extends way beyond RFID standards.
GS1, through its organizational efforts,
is bringing clarity and a neutral and
shared purpose
to enterprises in 145 countries which
desire a streamlined process for
connecting the flow of information with
the flow of goods on a worldwide scale.
As ambitious and impressive as the EPCglobal initiative has been in terms
of standardizing RFID development and
promoting RFID adoption, the EPCglobal
initiative takes on an entirely new
level of significance when it is
recognized for what it is: the leading
technological standards initiative of
a much larger initiative to transform
the connection between the flow of
information and goods for worldwide
commerce.
RFID Recruiters believes
the RFID industry is steadily working
its way through the many challenges and
opportunities that come with early
adopter technology markets.
Following this most recent conference we
believe that critical mass - especially
with the fervent commitment of GS1 - is
coming ever closer to the ubiquitous
adoption of the EPCglobal specification
for passive tag technology in supply
chain applications. We believe EPC Gen
2 has laid the groundwork for what will
be an enormous adoption of passive RFID
tag technology for supply chain
management. Further, we believe that in
parallel active tag and sensor
technologies will also gain tremendous
traction.RFID Recruiters believes that
the convergence of passive tag, active
tag, and sensor technologies will give
rise to platforms for Pervasive Computing. EPC Gen 2 is simply the most visible
face of RFID - which as a technology
overall has the
potential to become nothing less than a
third wave comparable in impact to the
Personal Computer and the Internet in
terms of the ability to improve
productivity by automating the flow of
information and commerce.
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Summary of Observations from the RFID
Journal Live Europe Conference, October
2005 in Amsterdam
RFID
Recruiters participated as a sponsor in
the RFID Journal Live Europe Conference.
The following is a summary of RFID
Recruiters' observations.
The conference provided a view into the
European market. Approximately 200
people attended the conference - mostly
from provider (vendor) organizations,
with significant attendance by
investors, several high profile user
organizations, and various potential new
user organizations. Many of the
attendees were notable business and
technology leaders in the RFID field.
While passive tag systems for supply
chain management applications continued
to be the most visible face of RFID,
active tag/RTLS technologies were also
well represented at the conference.
It is RFID Recruiters' impression that
the market is in the early adopter stage
of development in Europe as it is in the
U.S. and that while the ultimate market
size in Europe may be roughly the same
as the market size in the U.S., the U.S.
might be a year or so ahead in terms of
adoption. While the European Union has
done much to create a common
regionalized market, there appear to be
some unique requirements EU-wide along
with some unique requirements country by
country - all of which makes selling
RFID (and probably many IT-related
products) in Europe a bit more
challenging.
Nonetheless, it is RFID Recruiters' view
that the leading providers and users in
Europe (and around the world) see that
RFID is becoming an important technology
worldwide. Much of the early effort by
user organizations and a number of key
provider organizations is going into
preparing IT systems to
accommodate/utilize/integrate RFID. It
appears that the first wave of large
(and medium size) enterprises deploying
RFID will be in a position to (further)
report their results over the coming year
(2006) and the results will no doubt
stimulate and accelerate adoption by
follower user organizations.
Further, based on demonstrations and
discussions conducted in Amsterdam, RFID
Recruiters believes that that within
24-36 months, consumers will shift from
being relatively unaware of or
apprehensive about RFID to being
pro-RFID. RFID Recruiters is projecting
that roughly within this timeframe the
market will start to see "personal
shopping" and other consumer
applications delivered in telephones and
PDAs - and that these applications will
appeal highly to consumers. When this
opportunity for a pro-RFID consumer
orientation is detected by retailers and
other user organizations, the market
will have added incentive to more
aggressively move toward implementing
item level tagging in addition to pallet
and case tagging. Once this happens,
smart shelves with RFID readers and
RFID-enabled Point Of Sales systems will
become popular, at which point RFID will
hit the knee of a very substantial
growth curve. It is possible that RF-enabled
consumer PDAs will be as much a stimulus
to the implementation of smart shelves
as will be RFID-enabled Point Of Sales
systems. Smart shopping systems will
enable customers to more effectively
select and efficiently purchase
preferred items. Additionally, this
growth will be further fueled by the
accompanying adoption of active/RTLS
applications.
Whether this could happen slightly
faster than 24-36 months or perhaps take
somewhat longer is difficult to predict,
but it is clear that RFID will play a
huge role in extending the reach of
Information Technology. It is highly
conceivable that RFID will become a
major intersection of
commercial/industrial information
technology and consumer electronics.
RFID Recruiters believes that RFID will
become a key architectural building
block for pervasive computing which in
turn will make virtually every item of
any significant value capable of
becoming an addressable, intelligent,
and programmable network node,
accessible from extranets, intranets,
and the Internet.
If your organization would like to speak
with RFID Recruiters regarding our
ability to help you find the best RFID
candidates, or if you are an RFID
experienced candidate and would like to
discuss career opportunities, please
email or call RFID Recruiters at your
earliest convenience.
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Read About The Coming Intersection of
RFID and Business Intelligence,
Analytics, and Data Warehousing in DM
Review:
"Building Business
Intelligence
RFID:
An
Opportunity for Business Intelligence,
Part 1"
(DM Review is published in both a
hard copy printed version and a soft
copy web-based version. DM Review
is positioned as �the premier
publication for business
intelligence, analytics, integration
and data warehousing. Now in
its 15th year, DM Review delivers
thought-provoking and informative
editorial written for corporate
executives and IT managers.�)
Click on the magazine image below for
the first in a three-part article
featuring Q&A with RFID Recruiters'
Michael S. Shiff.
From RFID Recruiters' perspective,
the significance of the article and
the underlying discussion is two
fold:
-
The Business
Intelligence, Analytics, and
Data Warehousing segments of the
IT Industry are starting to get
a glimpse of the huge amount of
data that is headed toward IT
organizations as RFID comes on
line. One recent estimate
projected that Wal-Mart will
experience 8 terabytes per day
of RFID generated data. While
integrators see the data volume
coming, they are perhaps
sometimes more focused on
�application and infrastructure integration
opportunities� than the data and
the underlying value of the
information that can be
extracted from the data.
However, the Business
Intelligence, Analytics, and
possibly the Data Warehousing
professionals are likely to
focus at the data level in a
manner that will yield valuable
information, rather than
primarily focusing on
application integration and smoothly
running IT infrastructure.
-
RFID Recruiters
believes that an accelerated
adoption of RFID technology can
be achieved if more RFID
provider and user organizations
can focus further on the
�critical success factors� which
need to be addressed in order to
achieve faster and more
widespread adoption. Among
these critical success factors
in the EPC passive tag supply
chain segment is the recognition
that the RFID industry is in an
early market phase in which RFID
implementations can be
cost-justified by making data
available that will help
optimize supply chain
productivity and profitability,
but the data won�t be available
until RFID is implemented.
While this is likely to be
intuitively understood by many
people involved with RFID and
supply chain management,
specialists adjacent to RFID
(such as those involved in Data
Warehousing and Business
Intelligence) should be
embraced (and naturally incented
by market opportunities) to
bring specificity to the
creation of �whole solutions�
that truly provide a defined
path to ROIs for RFID user
organizations.
"Building Business
Intelligence
RFID:
An
Opportunity for Business Intelligence,
Part 2"
Click on the magazine image below
for the second in a three-part article
featuring Q&A with RFID Recruiters'
Michael S. Shiff.
"Building Business
Intelligence
RFID:
An
Opportunity for Business Intelligence,
Part 3"
Click on the magazine image below
for the third in a three-part article
featuring Q&A with RFID Recruiters'
Michael S. Shiff.
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