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The system, created by Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, emulates and measures the performance of multiple passive RFID tags and prototypes.

The hospital has upgraded its 10-year-old system for tracking young patients, and also plans to begin tagging assets.

FTC to hold public forum on RFID-enabled payment devices; Fujitsu launches UHF garment tags for North American, European and Chinese markets; Weber Marking Systems' new RFID label printer-applicator; GHX Mobile Solutions updates RFID-enabled inventory tool; RFID verifies collectibles for Texas Sports Hall of Fame; Motorola, Y3 Technologies to develop RFID solutions for YCH Group.

New ISO guidelines explore the environmental impact of RFID tags, and how to employ them to facilitate product recycling; an EPA-funded project is studying the use of RFID to aid in the recycling of consumer electronics.

The company has partnered with Mobile Aspects to provide an RFID system for tracking bottles of intravenous solution used for MRI and CAT scans.

The system, which uses high-performance EPC Gen 2 RFID tags from Omni-ID, has already been deployed at five data centers.

Construction equipment suppliers use N4 Systems' RFID-based solution to track inspection records of equipment in the field, at work sites and mines.

By focusing on production runs as small as 150 units, Mu-Gahat says it provides companies with greater flexibility for testing and development.

NeoCatena's security appliance is designed to protect an RFID network from counterfeit RFID tags, and from attempts to use malware-encoded tags to introduce a virus to back-end systems—or to steal sensitive data.

Korean retailers stock up on RFID; Sokymat Automotive introduces new UHF, HF and LF RFID tags; Polish bank offers prepaid contactless payment cards; TI offers ultra-thin chip module for contactless cards; Mikoh takes its tamper-evident technology to health-care market; Reva offers built-in integration with Oracle E-Business apps.

Issue #146 | May. 16, 2008 | by Jason Howe

Real-time location systems (RTLS) are an increasingly important strategic capability for a variety of business applications. After deciding it can benefit your organization, you need to consider the five critical factors that can ensure long term success of your investment:

1. Enterprise-Wide Coverage
2. Location Accuracy
3. Installation & Maintenance
4. Interoperability
5. Financial Risk

1. Enterprise-Wide Coverage
Knowing the location, status and movement of equipment and people provides valuable information that can be used to reduce expenses and increase productivity. Since assets and people move throughout your entire enterprise, to achieve maximum benefit your RTLS deployment must cover every square inch.

A system that only covers specific areas or departments will impact your success. User adoption depends on enterprise-wide coverage. Without this, RTLS will never fully be integrated into the fabric of your organization; and you’ll be unable to optimally impact productivity, workflow and true value innovation.

Also consider one of the biggest returns on investment RTLS provides: reduction in lost, stolen or otherwise “missing” equipment. Without coverage that extends everywhere, you simply can’t protect your assets.

2. Location Accuracy
Today’s technology advances in RTLS mean you don’t have to sacrifice time to deployment or incur increased costs to achieve room-level accuracy. But “room level” can be a misnomer.

Yes, your RTLS must provide accuracy with the four walls of an enclosed room – but your entire facility is not comprised of rooms. What happens when an asset travels through the corridors? Consider how RTLS will perform throughout your entire enterprise – in hallways, open areas, corridors, etc. Dozens of business applications will demand this level of accuracy.

Accuracy
Further, some enter the RTLS market with the assumption that zone level accuracy is “good enough.” That would be true if you only need asset location reported on the correct floor or within a cluster of rooms. To affect the highest impact for your strategic initiatives, staff productivity and user adoption, room level accuracy is a critical factor.

3. Installation and Maintenance
Installation considerations are a main factor in both the cost and ongoing success of your deployment. A minimally invasive solution that does not compromise your existing IT network, does not interrupt daily business operations, and can be installed in days or weeks, is vital.

Network Requirements
For real-time tracking, an RTLS network needs to be established. This is comprised of access points, sometimes referred to as sensors, receivers, readers or detectors, placed strategically throughout a building to accurately locate the tagged assets. How these network access points are installed, and the potential for business disruption during the process, are important to consider.

Many RTLS networks require that access points are hardwired: holes are drilled in ceilings or walls, or ceiling tiles are removed and replaced, in order to run cable and pull power for each access point. This can be disruptive, labor intensive, time consuming and expensive.

Network flexibility is also key. How your RTLS adapts to changes in the environment must be considered. Network cabling to a new or repositioned access point, can add substantial cost.

Network Interference and Security
When planning a RTLS deployment, leveraging existing Wi-Fi infrastructure is often seen as a suitable solution, which typically limits location accuracy to zone level. Your Wi-Fi information network supports and maintains many vital systems, so pay attention to interference, network traffic and security issues. Some RTLS systems utilize their own dedicated network, which maintains separation from other business applications and systems.

Time to Deployment
Considering that immediate benefits are achieved the minute your RTLS goes live, installation time is critical. Why delay your return on investment? What are the lost opportunity costs in when the go-live date is delayed due to extensive infrastructure, regulatory issues and calibration requirements?

Ongoing Maintenance
It shouldn’t take a team of IT professionals to keep the system running. It is important to understand the time and money involved in maintaining your RTLS at peak performance. This system is not only comprised of hardware and software, but of service and maintenance. Be sure to understand all maintenance costs out front.

4. Interoperability
Tracking assets is where your RTLS starts, not ends. Your RTLS should be supported by standards-based technology and be capable of providing location and status data to both your end-users and to third party applications. Fully interoperable RTLS can seamlessly integrate with other software systems which can be enriched with real-time location information.

5. Low Risk
Your business is a dynamic environment with unique needs. You should partner with a vendor that is vested in your success. Look for a flexible business model that removes barriers to entry – one that doesn’t require a large capital purchase or long-term contractual commitment, and allows you to easily expand assets as needed.

Summary
Regardless of your industry and the specific business applications your RTLS will address, by recognizing and addressing the five critical success factors, you’ll maximize return on investment, ensure the long term success of your system and truly drive value innovation to achieve both your short-term tactical goals, as well as your long term strategic goals.

Jason Howe is Chief Executive Officer of Awarepoint, a San Diego-based firm specializing in Real Time Location Systems and asset tracking management challenges. You can track them down at www.awarepoint.com

<img style="float:left; border:2px solid #ccc;" src="http://www.rfidsb.com/tm/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/jeff.jpg" alt="jeff" />Since July of 2007, I've been writing about the future impact of 700 MHz on communication, especially as it will impact RFID.

As AT&T and Verizon invested over $20 Billion in the spectrum auction, Google dropped out.

Instead, Google has decided to make an initial modest investment in WiMax with Sprint.

So now we're all wondering what is the 3 year game plan for all these guys and how it impacts our RFID world.<!--more-->

First let me preface this latest in the series of articles with the following:

"Today, May 2008, we've successfully tested and implemented an application that provides real time locating of RFID within 1000 meters at a landscape covering 90% of the US population 'without' GPS."

Yes, without GPS we can pinpoint an RFID device within 1000 meters using the 900 MHz spectrum. We know that with GPS we can pinpoint to 20 meter accuracy, but it's exclusively for outdoor applications today. The 1000 meter range location with 900MHz spectrum is indoors or outdoors.

So now back to the 700 MHz and WiMax.

When Google realized that $20 Billion is too high a price to enter the telecommunication space, a group was formed to create a consortium to battle Verizon and T-Mobile.

Here is how it plays out. . .

Verizon has become the dominant spectrum holder of 700 MHz which means they have the lead in reducing their wireless infrastructure costs for voice and data, compared to AT&T. If the other players in the Telcom and RBOX environment stay with 900 MHz, Verizon's costs of operation will be 20-25% of the competitors by 2015. So Sprint and T-Mobile needed to scramble for alternatives.

At the same time, Verizon's highly promoted fiber optics offering is beginning to hurt the cable industry as Verizon is bundling voice, wireless, data and entertainment to the home with superior HD delivery.
This is hurting Comcast, Time Warner and CableVision.

Now come Google. Plenty of cash in the bank and a plan to take on Apple and the iPhone. The $20 Billion entry fee in 700 MHz was too high so Google went to the next choice. WiMax. Google is no stranger to WiMax. Google has been bidding on community WiMax RFP's for over 3 years. If it's too expensive to play in the 700 MHz field, why not WiMax?

Wait a minute. How does Google, iPhone and WiMax blend? Well, as long as you have a license in all 50 states for a digital network, there is no reason why you can't offer VOIP over WiMax just like Vonage. In fact, one of the dirty little secrets of wireless voice and data is that the wireless companies basically only offer the first and last mile of transmission, the rest is over the cell phone communication is VOIP.

So, if Google goes with WiMax and offers a digital VOIP wireless phone, it's basically Vonage handheld phone over WiMax.

But let's get real. Google is not a phone company or a VOIP company. They are the best at delivering content and their revenue comes from ads. How are they going to pull this off?

Let's go to Intel. Remember little Intel. They produce all those millions of WiFi enabled laptop chips. Well, if Motorola or Qualcomm provide the infrastructure for 700 MHz voice and data, what's going to
happen to the Intel WiFi market?

To protect the Intel franchise, Google is partnering with Intel to produce devices that can connect with a national WiMax network. Whether it's a phone or a laptop, Google and Intel will be competing with Verizon.

But neither Intel or Google know how to operate and promote voice and data. What to do? Enter Sprint. With $3 Billion, Sprint joins forces with Clearwire Corp to create the largest WiMax spectrum offering in the USA. So now we have Sprint with a significant, yet shrinking, sales and marketing channel in combination with Clearwire that is an expert in operating a WiMax architecture.

Funding from Google with more cash than the US Federal Reserve and Intel with an R&D and product development infrastructure that is second to none.

Last, there is a sprinkle of fairy dust from Comcast to help deliver content, and to some of us who are Comcast customers we envision that Comcast will contribute nothing of substance.

So now that I've exhausted a good part of your productive day with an description of the landscape, what does this mean?

How does the clash of the titans sound?

Verizon 'vs' Sprint, Google and Intel.
700 MHz 'vs' WiMax.

For RFID it means accelerated spectrum space in which to bring forth new products and new applications.

For RFID readers, it means that RFID readers can be connected directly to the backbone. We're already doing it. In my shop I have a barcode reader that is connected to my wireless router and is in constant communication with my server 5,000 miles away.

For non-passive RFID devices the ability to remove readers from the formula is much closer now than ever before.

In other words, within the next 3 years we will no longer need readers/interrogators for non-passive RFID devices. Our non-passive RFID devices will communicate with the host directly, in real time, over
700MHz or WiMax.

Issue #145 | May. 9, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

Do you have any RFID tags you’ve from purchased from DAG, the French, HF equipment manufacturer and “sports specialist?” Then now is your chance to do something, that DAG says, is:

• Good for the environment
• Good for you
• Good for children

All you need to do is recycle those used DAG tags, by sending them to the company, and not only do you get 1 euro for each you turn in, and UNICEF gets 1 euro, too!

I’m not sure if there is a deadline on that; but when I just looked at DAG’s website to see what kind of tags they sold, they sure go my attention. “Funny tags.” If my friend Nicolas Jaubert is reading this, you must send me a note and tell me about these tags. For now all I shall say is, “Wow.” Take a look.

This has always been one of the best things about being an editor. You never know what you get in your mail box. I’m going to run though some I found interesting.

It is always good to get an international perspective. We heard from Victor Pinza Casto, the sales manager for STECH, an Ecuadorian VAR working in logistics, banks, security, exports and other sectors, who reports, “The market for the implementation of RFID in our country has grown in large quantities.”

We received word from Catherine Burke that our friend Victor Vega, director of tag product marketing at Alien Technology, was awarded the Ted Williams Award by AIM Global.  This is presented annually in recognition of an educator's and entrepreneur's innovative and exceptional contributions that further the growth of the industry.

Questions from the marketplace
Among the many questions we receive from current and future RFID end-users, a CPG company which has consumer products in major chains like CVS and Walgreens wondered, “We have a much expanded line of national brand equivalents and would like to re-approach Wal-Mart but feel we should also set up for their present RFID requirements. Who can help us, or should we approach Wal-Mart directly? We will need to end up with an equipment supplier eventually so which suppliers should we contact?”

In another, a California “bikeshare” program is “thinking about installing RFID in the bikes, and having some sort of system that recognizes when they leave the station and when they arrive.” Good idea.

Privacy and tracking children
On one side of the privacy issue, a woman writes, “I have a seven year old daughter. I have always been interested in and wanting to purchase some type of GPS tracking device for her . . . I have been doing research on RFID and I have been reading some rather controversial and negative comments, though it has not detoured (sic) me at all.

“I still believe it is a great idea to tag our children rather than have them missing or worse yet, molested and murdered. Can you give me any information you might deem important or link me to a site where I can the pros and cons of implanting the RFID or devices of that nature?”

The answer from this writer is, no, we do not keep track of such services and in fact I am personally against anyone tracking our children except maybe the parents themselves. That is a darn slippery slope that includes ubiquitously camera’d cities – famously including London and currently here in Washington, DC, where they are first tying together all public people-watching cameras into one control room.

From a commercial point of view, any move to tag children or people of any age, instituted by anyone other than that person her/himself, is a huge detriment to the growth of our industry, stoking well-founded public resentments.

Nonetheless, I was able to reach into my mailbag and send this mom a promotional email I received last week, too, for a Trackstick Personal GPS tracker which might allow her to conduct her own kiddie surveillance.

From the land of Count Dracula
Last for now, from this deep pile of email, I suppose I am showing my American provincialism in being titillated by an implementation Hi-G-Tek installed in both Romania and Bulgaria to provide automated visibility for an approximately 2,000-mile supply chain from depot to pump. Unattended, remote freestanding facilities in isolated areas of with above-ground tanks are secured with their electronic seals for client Rompetrol Group.

Benefits include an estimated 20% reduction of excess inventory; an expected 80% decline in fraud and a 25% decrease in rolling stock. Our erstwhile RFID Street columnist Erik Wood, Hi-G-Tek’s business development chief, tells me the seals are used on in-ground tanks at the gas stations, while the readers prevent product crossover and grade mixing by sounding an alarm to alert technicians of potential grade contamination. Hi-G-Locks work to secure container doors and provide automatic warnings of unauthorized tanker access.

“Keep those cards and letters coming in!”

Issue #144 | May. 2, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

If you have been reading RFID Street this past year, you know we have been examining the otherwise unreported phenomenon of new Value Added Resellers (VARs) enlisting in the RFID force of solution providers. In fact, this has manifested itself into our second website – www.RFIDtradeMart.com – which we have added to our original RFID Switchboard portal.

We predict more than 75% of those companies that will be selling RFID solutions two years from now, are not offering RFID today.

Most of those companies are in business today. They just do not sell RFID yet. We are not predicting that those selling RFID today will be out of business. No, despite the fact that like all industries that go from the toddler to adolescent stage, there will certainly be a shake-out, that is not it at all.

It is just that as we previously reported, with less than 2% of all information technology solution providers of every kind selling RFID today, good ol’ capitalism makes their jumping in a foregone conclusion.

Now this is hitting home. You see, it turns out I have been a VAR all along and have not known it.

I own another company called Further Printing & Marketing. Further provides production services to publishers and marketers throughout the Washington, D.C. area, and though we are a small company, to clients around the world. At our core, we sell printing. And maybe like some things you sell or have sold, printing has become a commodity. Printers are a dime a dozen. You have printing machines in your office, right? We have four storefront print shops a block from our own office.

We own no presses. We add value to our print brokering with things like full design studio; data processing; complete mailing services; packaging, assembly and fulfillment services; imprinted apparel and trade show products. The value is a client just needs to make one phone call, and not worry about it.

The first data processing systems
Instead of channel partners, printers often refer to companies that resell their manufacturing as distributors, because many of these companies were originally distributors of forms – those multi-part paper records that, ironically, were actually early data processing systems.

I remember as a kid watching my dad at his sales rep firm, and I could swear the sales forms they used had six or seven parts, with carbon paper. (I just realized there are people reading this who do not know what that is.)

Just 30-40 years ago, these sheets of form paper were the data records used by supply chains, mailed, or sent “by pouch,” to factories, offices, warehouses, retailers and others. Forms comprised the commercial databases of business. Rather than hard drives, they were stored in and retrieved from file cabinets. Yes, this happens today to a degree; but then, that was it! Quite a difference from real-time data transmission via RFID.

Revenge of the forms salesmen
Now that forms, often with barcodes, are relegated to a shrinking amount of industrial use, distributors have been competing for my company’s customers with commercial printing services, large displays, advertising specialties and labels. The form distribution companies, after they folded, merged and morphed, have “moved up” into client offices, now commonly offering some database services. Further Printing, for example, ties variable digital printing into one client’s database to routinely send dozens of versions of direct mail in up to 17 languages.

Did someone say barcodes? Labels? Databases?

The cover of the 2006 Print Solutions Buyers’ Guide includes graphics saying “Brochures,” “Screenprinting,” “Presentation Folders” and “RFID.” There are 15 listings in this 2006 directory under “RFID Products.” In 2004 there were none. The only two I recognize from the RFID trade shows are Nashua Corporation and Repacorp Label Products. Other catalogues we receive offer RFID starter kits for print distributors to sell customers.

Here you have an industry of aggressive service companies who already understand barcodes, label manufacturing and data. Tens of thousands of them are being offered RFID products to sell. No surprise some are selling smart labels already. Our company got its first inquiry for RFID cards recently, from a London nightclub.

Products around the edges
That’s not all – just now I checked our website and discovered we are offering RFID-related products from another industry. I had no idea!

We are members of the Advertising Specialties Institute, the leading group matching manufacturers of products sold with imprinted logos to resellers. ASI provides their VARs (not really called that, but the good ones add great value) with access to about 60,000 items. Lo and behold, a keyword search of the ASI engine on our site shows we are offering “Forget-Me-Not RFID Defender – the credit card sleeve that blocks the transmission of radio frequency waves” and a variety of single pocket, ID card holders which state, “Bar codes and RFID markings scan right through.”

All of this RFID-creep into other industries will continue. It will end up speeding the commoditization of smart labels. This is hardly the new RFID sales force I refer to with my two year prediction. But it is reflective of the market expansion true technology providers face in a more dynamic and important way.

Epilogue
I have not actually worked at Further Printing much for almost six years, this company I have now learned is actually a “print VAR,” since my wife does such a terrific job of running it. We do operate Switchboard Media from offices they are kind enough to allow us to use, which works out quite well having graphic designers nearby as well as sophisticated database and networking resources.

However I am quite proud of the fine job Further does for clients big and small, including some household names like Brookings Institute, the World Bank, Georgetown University, a slew of national associations and corporate marketers, and being in Washington, the occasional job for political groups like NOW and ACLU.

There is no way I can end this without inviting any stalwarts still reading this far to check in with www.GoFurther.com when you need any printing, direct mail, logo-imprinted apparel or trade show give-aways – 301/588-5699. Tell ‘em Andy sent you.

Issue #143 | Apr. 25, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

The buzz was strong at last week’s RFID Journal Live conference. Spring is here and the RFID industry is sprouting growth all over. Great new product introductions were on display throughout the show floor.

More than ever, RFID suppliers were talking about ongoing work; but when you are in a trade show atmosphere, everyone must put their best face on and talk about the work they are doing.

Too often in recent years, there has been some blurring around the edges of these reports: pilots were implied to full implementation scale; and sales proposals were related as if they were projects underway. You can hardly blame anyone – to show weakness is death.

I’m easily impressed, so I’ve been amazed by the whiz-bang technology that has been introduced at all of the RFID shows these last five years. When you cover an industry of people who turn science fiction into reality, you can fall into the rut of, “Oh, another innovation that will truly change the world as we know it? What are we doing for dinner?”

What spoke to me was far more profound than any product introduction or triumphant contract win. It was the systemic reinvestment by smart global companies not dependent on RFID for their revenue.

The Wal-Mart barometer again
To be sure, the recent talk – and much talk last week at the Journal show – was about the Sam’s Club mandates. After all of the misinformation circulated about Wal-Mart’s flagship RFID usage these past few years, I hesitate to bring it up; but their expanding RFID usage, and purchasing, to their warehouse stores is the final nail in the coffin of all the naysayers who said Wal-Mart was pulling back.

If Sam is in, Wal-Mart is in. That means total implementation across the company because they are smart enough to know that anything less is foolish for them. Those who want to read how many stores they expand to any given month as if it were the Dow, best of luck.

But those who buy technology just need to know if it will work well enough for their own purposes. Companies that sell the technology, especially trudging through a slow market, must evaluate it and ask themselves, “We gave it a good shot. Should we leave this to others? Or is there really something here?”

The manufacturers double down
Microsoft decided they liked the RFID future they saw and introduced a product expansion with BizTalk RFID Mobile, intended to integrate real-time business information with a company’s core business practices. In February, they held their “first annual” RFID Solution Days. This is a company who has committed.

Then in hearing about this Microsoft thing, someone mentioned how Samsung is working on this with them. Samsung?! Where the hell did they come from? I own one of their TV’s and other stuff; they make good products. But I also pay attention to who manufactures RFID products and when did they show up?

Then I met a Chinese scientist last week who General Electric sent to Shanghai from California, where she had been living, to open an RFID test lab there. They see growth in RFID in China as an opportunity. GE? Where did they come from?! Of course, this is another smart company who has paid attention and realized this is one technology China is actually a big buyer of, as opposed to everything else, which China is thought of mostly as sellers of.

Motorola’s involvement in RFID you know, of course. After eating the smaller fish (Symbol) that ate the smaller fish (Matrics), RFID was, and is still, a splinter of business for Motorola. There had been wonder by some of how well Symbol was fitting into the mother ship. Their lead sponsorship of the trade show sent the message of commitment and growth.

Quick note: None of this is meant to infer smaller, RFID-centric companies do not make great contributions to the market. It is just that the RFID focused, often VC-backed, companies must grow their RFID offerings, because that is what they do. No surprise or market indicators there. I am just saying the investment decisions global titans make, who have no interest in being involved in small markets, indicate big things ahead.

A commitment in stripes
What to me is most telling of all is the way Zebra is expanding within this market. A leader in the industrial printer market, though shy of ‘titan’ status, Zebra is respected as a smart, competitive company. Last week I met with Mike Dempsey who joined Zebra when Navis was acquired a year ago, as were two other RFID players.

Mike explained the company’s plans include his division, which is the first implementation division Zebra has ever introduced. This company known for “moving boxes” has decided that, essentially for the first time in 40 years, they have found a technology they are so excited about they will not only sell product to the industry, they will commit to doing work from within the industry as a means to earnings growth.

This is a company that does not have the heft of a Microsoft or Motorola to just shrug and not think too hard about bad investment decisions. This is a company that has been in the thick of the RFID action from the beginning, and has voted along with the others, that they know RFID now has a solid foundation with the kind of growth that is unstoppable.

<img style="float:left; border:2px solid #ccc;" src="http://www.rfidsb.com/tm/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/jeff.jpg" alt="jeff" />In 2005 I wrote an article relating to the high risk of fuel theft and waste that is impacting US haulers over $2 Billion annually.

Based on a cost of almst $5 a gallon for diesel, my estimates for 2008 have increased to over $8 Billion of the $100+ Billion fuel spending for 2008.<!--more-->

It isn't that the price of diesel is twice as high as 2005, it's that the attraction to steal at $5 a gallon is considerably more attractive.

RFID is one of the compelling technologies that can reduce this economic cost considerably.

<a href="#comments">Comment on this story</a> and we'll provide you direction to reduce the costs associated with abuse of fuel dispensing.

<strong>RFID protector</strong>
Jan 1, 2006

Fuel prices rising by as much as 20% a year have spurred an increase in fuel theft, and waste, from commercial vehicles. This employee-related crime is now costing the United States trucking industry $2.1 billion a year, according to Jeff Schaengold of RF Commerce LLC.

The rate of fuel theft is accelerating as climbing fuel prices tempt more employees to steal fuel. Fuel waste also is a pronounced concern as transportation companies struggle to find a cost-effective answer to curb what is threatening their bottom line.

Latest figures from the American Trucking Associations (ATA) indicate that the US trucking industry will face a $72 billion fuel cost for 2005 — a $20 billion increase over 2004. In the past few months, fleets have reported these rising gas prices are crimping quarterly profits. “It's no wonder that coupled with rising cases of employee fuel theft because of overall rises in petroleum, the public sector is suffering as well,” said Schaengold.

Taxpayers foot the bill when public funds are used to compensate for misuse of state-purchased fuel — a double blow for the economy. But both government authorities and private firms are taking simple, affordable steps to stop the waste and theft of trucking fuel with cutting-edge RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to combat this problem.

When using RFID to monitor rolling assets such as trucks and company vehicles, fuel theft dramatically decreases. This saves the company, the taxpayer, and the US economy billions of dollars of resources and revenue.

“The greater the consumption of all grades of fuel in the United States, the higher the fuel pump price to consumer, the higher home heating oil will be this winter, and the rate of inflation in 2006,” said Schaengold.

Because RFID tracking is geared to monitor and communicate activities of trucks and operators, trucking companies can tailor each RFID product to suit their needs, without unnecessarily going over their current budgets.

Recent industry reports have shown an increased use of RFID in monitoring truck activity in construction and mining operations to ensure that loads are accounted accurately. This is occurring on refrigerated containers and trailers to monitor temperature and humidity, and RFID is also used in yard management systems to locate assets.

“The same sensor-based technology used in refineries and chemical facilities to measure and monitor flow of liquids is applied to monitoring truck fuel consumption,” said Schaengold. “RFID coupled with GPS provides real-time tracking of the truck movements as well as idle time when the engine consumes fuel instead of shutting down.”

RFID allows a fuel tank cap to be matched with an authorized fuel pump. If the operator opens the fuel cap and he is not within the proximity of an authorized fuel pump, the RFID transponder unit logs the event. The trucking company, through reporting and messaging, receives a record of the event and can challenge the operator's activity.

RFID-associated fuel pumps match drivers and trucks through closed-circuit TV images with the truck RFID transponder. Much like EZ-Pass, if the truck doesn't match the transponder, the trucking company is alerted.

Traffic jams waste fuel at high rates with no mobility value. RFID can route drivers away from congestion, saving both time and fuel costs. According to Schaengold, “RFID presents practical, manageable, and affordable solutions for the trucking industry because it works, and for a new technology, it's refreshingly based on solid, defined methods of tracking principles.”

Without RFID, fuel usage waste and theft is hard to manage and hard to prove. Not only does RFID offer a precise and trackable method, but it also offers a strong deterrent for fuel theft and unnecessary waste, while savings far outweigh the costs.

Management of truck operators requires quantification and real-time visibility. Managers need to know they can locate their drivers at any time, and find out what they are doing, precisely and efficiently. RFID does that, in a cost-effective and non-obstructive method that doesn't drain valuable company resources.

RFID enables tracking and monitoring of all types of trucking. It is more efficient than bar-code tracking, since RFID requires no manual scanning and no line of sight.

Because RFID works seamlessly within the trucking industry, and creates a mutually beneficial working environment, the savings and enhanced efficiency more than cover the cost of acquisition. With such a costly activity as fuel waste and theft reduced, RFID's cost-saving results will give companies the edge over trucking competitors and competing transportation modes.

The higher the price of fuel, the more value technology to reduce fuel consumption gains in importance. Again, the cost of fuel falls not only on private companies and the public sector, but also the consumers. Fuel is heading towards $3 a gallon, so trucking fuel costs — aside from those incurred through theft — are rising at double digits. Yet “RFID makes the task of fuel, operator, and rolling stock monitoring entirely manageable, without the need for companies to hire extra staff,” said Schaengold.

US trucking companies are using RFID with considerable results. RFID-enabled smart cards at the fuel pump are making fuel dispensing easier and quicker. It is estimated that by year 2007, companies not using RFID will lose up to $4 billion due to fuel waste and theft, if the adoption of RFID is not accelerated in 2005 and 2006.

Vendor chooses solution to meet Sam’s Club RFID Tagging Requirement.

Great Falls, VA – SVG Distribution, distributer of videogame entertainment products and a leader in the world's interactive entertainment software industry has chosen epcSolutions RFIDTagManager for Sam’s Club to help meet the current RFID pallet tagging requirement from Sam’s Club.

SVG Distribution needed a solution to meet Sam’s Club compliance requirements for RFID tagging for full pallet, single SKU shipments to Desoto, Texas. SVG Distribution needed a software product that was targeted for and easy implementation of an RFID pallet tagging solution.

RFIDTagManager for Sam’s Club, built on epcSolutions’ SensorOS, gives end users the ability to meet the current Sam’s Club RFID requirements with a simple out of the box solution requiring no additional software. RFIDTagManager for Sam’s Club includes a full SQL database, EPCIS and connectivity to all the RFID hardware. RFIDTagManager for Sam’s Club is easily integrated with existing ERP and other back end systems such as Oracle, SAP, JD Edwards and others.

“SVG Distribution and epcSolutions teamed together to implement an RFID compliance application for Sam’s Club in less than a day.” States Amjad Hussain, Handleman Company. “epcSolutions has demonstrated a complete and thorough knowledge of RFID, and we are very happy to have been able to partner on this successful implementation.”

“This is a perfect example of the epcSolutions business model, provide easy to implement, low cost, scaleable, standards based Supply Chain Solutions, and delivered quickly and professionally.

For more information on RFIDTagManager for Sam’s Club, please call us at 703-757- 4470, or visit us at www.epcsolutions.com/sams.

About Crave Games:

Formed in 1997 and based out of Newport Beach, California, Crave Entertainment Group, Inc., is a division of Handleman Corp., SVG Distribution and video game publisher Crave Games, are leaders in the world's interactive entertainment software industry. The company publishes and distributes games for every major gaming platform on the market, including PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance, Nintendo GameCube™, Wii™, the PlayStation® game console, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

Crave Entertainment has assembled top industry professionals whose teamwork and commitment to quality have led the company to a position among the top 20 domestic videogame publishers in the United States.

With a highly skilled management team and strong alliances as a third-party games publisher, Crave continues to align itself with top names in the industry. The company draws much of its success from exclusive distribution deals with leading game developers from around the world as well as licensing agreements with some of the foremost franchises in popular culture.

About epcSolutions:

epcSolutions, Inc. is the leading provider of RFID compliance software to the Wal-Mart and DoD supplier community. epcSolutions’ GS1Net3 platform suite implements the GS1 System, a series of standards designed to improve supply chain management. The GS1 System includes: BarCodes - Numbering and bar coding; eCom - EDI (Electronic Data Interchange); Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) - data synchronization; EPCglobal - RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). The “Any Asset, One Network” application platform allows users to manage all four asset types found in a typical business: Work in Process, Finished Goods/Inventory, Fixed Assets and People. Visit www.epcsolutions.com

Mountain View, CA. (April 18, 2008) - Omnitrol Networks announced today that it has entered a strategic partnership with Croop-LaFrance Inc., a premier IT solutions provider serving both the Commercial and Government Sectors. With this partnership the two companies are delivering complete end-to-end, EPC-based traceability and tracking solutions for the aerospace and defense industries.

The companies' joint traceability/tracking solutions advance the use of RFID technologies to enhance supply chain, MRO, Logistics, and manufacturing processes. Among the advantages is the creation of a real time "sense and respond" network that enhances Global Asset Tracking, Item Level Track & Trace, Part Pedigree, Warranty Tracking, and MR&O Work-In-Progress (WIP) Tracking and Alerting.

At the center of the partnership announced today is Omnitrol Networks' OMNITROL™ Asset and WIP Tracking and Traceability Solutions. The solution evolves existing manual and barcode tracking to EPC (Electronic Product Code) based tags automatically from existing shop floor business processes. The real-time visibility further improves efficiencies in plant operations, lean manufacturing, MRO and logistics disciplines like Just-In-Time and Kanban. This integrated solution extends customer operations into a global tracking infrastructure to track items throughout the supply-chain.

Together, Omnitrol Networks and Croop-LaFrance will target key accounts for the OMNITROL Asset and WIP solutions. Croop-LaFrance has 13-plus years of delivering solutions to the commercial sector for such companies as Xerox, Kodak and Bausch & Lomb. The company has made significant inroads into the defense sector, and has current contracts with the USAF, US Army and others. Croop is leveraging its experience from leading commercial customers to help clients in the government sector.

A full-service eSystem and network consulting, design, implementation and management consulting company, Croop-LaFrance is 8A certified and currently holds a GSA contract with the federal government.

"The aerospace and defense industries are constantly looking for better ways to manage complexity. Among their goals are the creation of 'sense and respond' supply chains that help warfighters increase availability of their weapons systems to ensure mission readiness. Omnitrol Networks' award-winning track and trace infrastructure solution is a proven, scalable and elegant approach to help existing ERP, MRO, and logistical systems achieve these goals in the aerospace and defense sectors," said David Croop, CEO of Croop-LaFrance Inc.

"Croop-LaFrance has a stellar record of deploying solutions based on best-of-breed technologies," noted Raj Saksena, president and CEO of Omnitrol Networks. "Its exceptional expertise, combined with our proven EPC-global asset tracking and traceability solution, will result in a powerful resource for aerospace and defense Industries seeking to solve and scale the challenges faced in maintaining complete traceability of their assets."

Omnitrol Networks' OMNITROL integrates with EPC tags, sensors, RFID readers, mobile handhelds, and PLC equipment to provide real-time intelligence to existing manufacturing, MRO and logistics business processes. The OMNITROL network delivers a scalable real-time location, visibility and automated asset pedigree capture infrastructure. The simple, versatile and all-in-one systems substantially lowers the total cost of ownership while providing powerful services such as workflow service creation and emulation, back-end integration, including complete device and service management and web-based provisioning.

About Omnitrol Networks, Inc.
Omnitrol Networks Inc. is a leading provider of complete EPC-based business application solutions for the emerging wireless, RFID and sensor automation market. The company's award-winning OMNITROL appliance and Edge Application and Services Engine (EASE™) software have pioneered the market for "Always On" real-time operational visibility, traceability and automation solutions. The OMNITROL's unique edge-centric solution architecture enables the industry's most flexible and reliable means to deploy scalable Auto-ID application intelligent networks at the lowest total cost of ownership in the market. Omnitrol Networks Inc. is a privately held company with corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA. Additional information about Omnitrol Networks' products and services are available at www.omnitrol.com.

About Croop-LaFrance
Croop-LaFrance is a privately held, Native American Certified 8A Small Business company headquartered in Rochester, NY. Croop-LaFrance has quickly evolved into one of the premier Information Technology service providers supporting both the U.S. Government and commercial Fortune 500 clients.

Issue #142 | Apr. 18, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

This week we are coming to you live from RFID Journal Live! in sunny Las Vegas. By popular consensus, those of us who have been attending RFID conferences and trade shows of every stripe for years agree this is the best attended show in RFID history.

This is the Year of Solutions. Nobody here is “selling RFID” anymore. Everyone is selling business solutions. Sure, it just so happens all of these solutions revolve around RFID technology.

Everyone has figured out that companies had little interest in buying RFID. But they are eager as hell to save money; become more efficient; protect themselves from counterfeiting, theft and security breaches; get a handle on access to their facilities and provide customers with product improvements. If those things require RFID, bring it on!

The best news is that from all corners, the mists of gloom have dissipated. Vendors are doing business. Pilots are turning into full-fledged implementations. Implementations are rolling out across enterprises. In these times of possible recession, this is one industry where business is on the rise.

Not that anyone feels unaffected by client budgets; but in an odd way this could be one of the success stories amidst a flatlining economy. I’ll leave that to the analysts to throw their brilliant numbers and percentages at you in coming months. I am reporting what companies are actually telling me.

I was tempted to mention some product introductions that have caught my eye; but I still have to walk the floor of the show today and have no interest in being collared by all of those I do not mention. So I will tell you about the one I am most excited about.

After months of talking about it, we at RFID Switchboard have introduced our new product, RFID Trade Mart. The new Trade mart is now the only website dedicated not to using RFID successfully, as Switchboard is, rather it is about selling RFID successfully. At this time I shall let it speak for itself and ask you to give us a visit, if you sell or intend to sell RFID technology. There are many ways to get there, but try this for now: www.rfidsb.com/tm Let me know what you think, would you please? (my2cents@rfidsb.com)

After years of head-to-head competition with RFID World, which wisely was moved to this fall rather than the annual mega-shows occurring the same month each year, Journal Live! has been anointed the must-attend by the industry. What is fascinating to me is after years of World beating Journal in attendance – by my count not theirs since show producers are notoriously generous in their announced attendance numbers – that after last year’s major tilt the other way there was a sea change in attitude of exhibitors towards the Journal.

Who am I to count numbers without an RFID reader? It just so happens this week’s show is at The Venetian here, the same fine hotel I used to produce an annual (and still running) conference in the credit union business. The main hall where keynotes and general sessions take place is the same ballroom we had ours. It is not for me to announce my comparative count; but I have a pretty good idea.

Thank goodness the old RFID show glut is over. The number of pure RFID shows, whether horizontal or vertical in subject approach, has calmed down to a reasonable handful. Being in the information business, I knew from the beginning this would happen. It had to. Once a technology is better known by those who need to know it, there are only so many shows about that technology needed. To give an extreme example, what kind of attendance do you think there would be at a show about desktop computers? We ain’t there yet, but the RF-What? nature of things has receded.

P.S. Happy Birthday Monica!

April 17, 2008 – George Everhart is CEO at Alien Technology and shares some thoughts about the market. If you, too, are interested in the channel partner aspect of RFID, visit our new RFID Trade Mart.

What do you see in terms of emerging segments that you believe will impact Alien and RFID in the coming year or two?

EVERHART: Let me make three points about that one. The first one would be that this solution, this technology really delivers horizontal solutions. So, we see solutions in a whole variety of market segments. And because we are partner oriented, or channel oriented, those folks find the solutions and we are glad to have provided our technology to those folks, to deliver those horizontal solutions. That is the first point.

The second one is that the case and pallet in the supply chain in the retail segments, is very big; and while it has been maligned for not growing as fast as folks had wanted it to it still remains big, and I think it is compelling. We are glad we are in that segment. We are lucky to have one of the largest retailers in the world as one of our customers. And we intend to stay there.

The third point, though, would be that there are some segments we are observing, that seem to recognize the value that RFID can bring. One certainly is in the transportation and air transport segment. The use of RFID for baggage tags already is real and that is going to grow greatly.

But, if you look at information and files and folders, actually paper tracking with files and folders, that is exploding through the judicial systems as well as through other companies in terms of how they track that.

A classic example of that, from the judicial system, is that you look at the State of California and they are putting RFID tags on all the major briefing files.

They had a huge problem with attorneys coming into courthouses and getting the briefs; checking them out; leaving them on the table somewhere; walking out and no one knew where they were.

Since Alien works with partners so closely, when you talk about something like transportation, air transport, who starts that process going with the end users.

EVERHART: We haven’t seen one specific pattern. For example, in some cases we actually get contacted by the end user who is assigned to one to look into it. They get Google RFID and Alien pops up and they contact us.

In other instances, we have a partner who has worked already with one airport, starts to get a reputation and then another airport wants to talk to them.

Right. Are you working with airports now?

EVERHART: Yes.

Can you talk about that a little bit?

EVERHART: Unfortunately not. But, fairly soon I think we will be able to talk about the specifics, you know, names, places.

Sure. We have been covering a great deal in terms of the growth of resellers and other source of channeled partners and what they mean to the industry. Does Alien find there are various VARS coming in without an RFID background, that are looking for help in growing their own RFID business?

EVERHART: Yes, I think there are some, yes. But I need to make a point.

Yes.

EVERHART: You look at us, and while we are very active, obviously in RFID, we are still a company of a couple hundred people. And yet we think that we have a federation worldwide because of these partnerships of a little over two thousand people. So, it is like a company of two thousand out there. That is tremendously powerful. Certainly it is great from a leverage standpoint; that it is, variable cost based and fixed cost based, for our model.

Do you see any types of channel partners that are the most active Obviously, people often think of the barcode suppliers as being the early RFID sales force, if you will. Do you see any other types of resellers or IT consultants that have jumped in big?

EVERHART: Yes. This was perhaps an over generalization, but folks who have been involved in wireless and networking, this is obviously a nice fit, because these are frankly wireless networking type of devices. So, that arena absolutely.

And in some cases, those folks are more aggressive than the folks that come from the barcoding side, just because there is still a lot of barcoding out there, it is easy to say that is the mainstream and, therefore, a company might still focus on that and dabble in RFID. Where some of these other companies, all they do is look at the wireless information segment and look at RFID.

A couple of recent announcements by Alien, like the Daisy implementation, really speak well of use of RFID and perhaps you can tell me about Alien’s viewpoint on them.

EVERHART: With any of end user customers, the way we look at it is that we are the technology partner for them. But, there needs to be a solution partner for them as well. And that actually is where our channels and those players come in.

So, what we can do with Daisy as an example, is we can be the expert on how they might deploy. And the good news is we have deployed enough and we have deployed in very big companies. So we have a few scars on our back, if you will. We know what we would do again and we know what we wouldn’t do again. So, we can consult and give services as well as the technology part of it.

What do you see in terms of the level of knowledge level?

I gather you have about 200 channel partners and that certainly is a widespread group. Typically in business people talk about the 80/20 rule, what do you see as far as the level of knowledge that your channeled partners have with RFID?

EVERHART: First of all, let me tell you there are really two classes, two types of partners we have. One are the label converters, who really deal on the tag side almost exclusively. So, they provide tags within labels or for customers. And the others, of course, are the VARs, whatever name you want to call them, but you know, the value added guy.

The value added guys, I would say have a great understanding of RFID. They do some pretty clever things. You know, our readers with the Alien reader protocol, allow them to do some programming on these on these readers and do some creative things. And they do it.

So, I would say they are pretty well qualified, you know,. Looking at your 80/20 point, clearly some of our larger VARs do more business with us. but, I am amazed, day in and day out, we hear these clever implementations of RFID for applications that make me go, ‘How did they ever think of that?’ I mean, it is really, very creative.