RFID News You Might Have Missed

Filed in archive RFID Basics on August 19, 2005

I'll leave you this Friday and over the weekend with some interesting links to RFID in the news recently.


These are links to stories that perhaps did not get as much air time as they deserve, or which demonstrate broader trends I think we can see in the RFID landscape:

• RFID acquisitions: RFID Ltd. acquires Packaged RFID Inc. - "The combined companies will offer RFID integration for small to medium-sized Wal-Mart, Target and Department of Defense (DoD) suppliers." My view: Get used to the word "acquisition." I expect to see a lot more consolidation among the smaller players in RFID, as this market develops and grows.

• RFID Adoption in the Supply Chain: CIO Today has a very interesting article suggesting that manufacturers may be doing more to adopt RFID than is reported. If, like me, you are tired of hearing the same old news reports about how manufacturers are moving slowly to adopt RFID outside of mandates (yada yada yada), this article may leave you with a different impression. Some operative words in this article include the description of RFID as currently being: "less costly," "more reliable," and "combining with WiFi."

• RFID and Wireless Networks: Mike Liard of Venture Development Corporation gives his perspective over at Supply and Demand Chain Executive, highlighting the importance of network infrastructure to handling all that RFID data. He too sees the connection with wireless networks, noting: "RFID and WLANs are highly synergistic and compatible. Whether RFID readers are stationary, mobile, or embedded in other devices, they can leverage the attributes of WLANs."

• Active RFID: RFID Journal reports on a new study by Spyglass Consulting Group suggesting that active RFID dominates the landscape in healthcare. Of course, this is unlike other verticals, where it is mostly passive RFID that dominates. On a related note, IDTechEx reports that Active RFID (RFIDa) is growing at a nice clip and that reported statistics on active RFID can be misleading.

And if you are looking for more news, please visit our content partner, MoreRFID, where you will find a large assortment of intelligently organized RFID links.


Have a good weekend, everyone!


Tags: RFID; business; supply chain