About a month ago I met some of the people from ODIN Technologies at the Smart Labels USA conference. One of them was Michelle Reilly, Marketing Director, who is in the photograph to the left, holding a copy of the book RFID for Dummies, written by the CEO of Odin.

Now we learn that Odin Technologies is opening a joint venture in budapest, Hungary. The new venture will be an RFID implementation services business.

Odin is a U.S. based company. Having a base in Europe positions it to tap into the RFID market in Europe much better, as indicated in the company's press release:

Budapest, Hungary - ODIN technologies today formally announced the formation of ODIN Budapest. ODIN Budapest is a joint venture between ODIN technologies, Swiss firm MTS and the Hungarian government Agency. While ODIN technologies of Dulles, VA has been serving European clients from its U.S. offices for the past two years, the growth in the European RFID market now requires a local presence to meet demand and provide high service levels for which ODIN is widely known. ODIN Budapest is being capitalized with US $4.2 million and will represent a joint investment and commitment by ODIN, MTS and the Hungarian government Agency.

"Europe represents the second largest market for RFID. IDTechEX estimates the RFID market in Europe will exceed $1 billion U.S. dollars in 2007. ODIN technologies has already established the leading brand for RFID implementation services in the United States by focusing on the physics of RFID and ensuring systems perform consistently at 100% read rates. We are bringing that same proven scientific approach to ODIN Budapest which we expect to set the standard for the highest quality and most efficient RFID deployments in Europe. Our goal of creating Supremely Satisfied Clients is extending world-wide," commented ODIN technologies President and CEO, Patrick J. Sweeney II.

Mr. Sweeney added, "ODIN's growing business in Europe requires a strong presence on the continent. Europe still relies largely on generalists such as systems integrators for RFID or biased hardware vendors. Reliance on generalist systems integrators has led to problem implementations the United States and Europe and has caused project delays and unnecessary cost overruns. ODIN Budapest will bring proven RFID deployment expertise to European clients in a conveniently located EU capital. European companies now have a local choice for accessing high quality, objective, physics-driven RFID services to their projects."

You might wonder, "why Budapest?" I have not spoken with the folks at Odin about this, but the answer is not hard to figure out. Hungary has been a popular place for U.S. investment over the past decade. Most recently it has become a popular destination for R&D and service centers. The government offers incentives and now that Hungary is part of the European Union, Hungary can serve as a base of operations to support other European countries. If you are going to be in Europe, why not Hungary?