RFID Gazette

Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles Install RFID PowerPay System

This coming NFL season, fans at the Seattle Seahawks' Qwest Field and the Philadelphia Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field will be able to make cashless purchases with unique personal PowerPay key fobs fitted with an RFID tag. The PowerPay system is developed by Smart System Technologies (SST).

According to the RFID Journal:

"Football is a good place for us to start. Football teams consistently sell out so they have to look for new ways to raise incremental revenues beyond selling seats," says Michael Richardson, chief technology officer at SST, which is based in New York City. For SST, partnering with NFL teams to promote its cashless payments system to their fans creates a way to tie cashless payments into targeted marketing promotions.

Read more: RFID Enters the Sports Arena

VeriChip Aims to Chip Hospital Patients with RFID

VeriChip, the maker of the subdermal human tracking RFID chip, is making strides toward implanting hospital patients with the technology. On Tuesday, the Federal Drug Administration issued a ruling calling for a final review of the product.

According to ZDNet UK:

The idea for employing the tags to identify humans came after the horror of the 11 Septemer, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, Fulcher said. Richard Seelig, vice president of medical applications at Applied, saw on TV how firemen were writing their badge numbers on their arm with pen so they could be identified in the event of a disaster.

He inserted Digital Angel tags in his body and told the chief executive that they worked. VeriChip was born.

Read more: RFID tags may be implanted in patients' arms

Lukas Grunwald's RFDump Can Hack RFID Tags

The data stored on RFID chips may not be as secure as one would hope. Lukas Grunwald, a consultant at DN-Systems Enterprise Solutions GmbH in Germany has developed a new tool, RFDump, which is able to rewrite RFID data. Grunwald fears that this tool could be very useful for shoplifters who would be able to alter the data on an expensive item to read as though it were a commodity.

CNET News.com reports:

When such tools become widely available, hackers and those with less pure motives could use a handheld device and the software to mark expensive goods as cheaper items and walk out through self checkout. Underage hackers could attempt to bypass age restrictions on alcoholic drinks and adult movies, and pranksters could create confusion by randomly swapping tags, requiring that a store do manual inventory.

Grunwald's software program, RFDump, makes rewriting RFIDs easy. While there are significant malicious uses of the program, consumers could also use it to protect themselves, he said.

Read more: RFID tags become hacker target

Symbol Technologies Buys Matrics for $230 Million

Two of the biggest names in RFID hardware production have become one with Symbol Technologies' purchase of Matrics.

According to CNET News.com:

Through the acquisition, Symbol significantly adds to the array of products it will bring to the burgeoning market by augmenting its existing line of handheld radio tag scanners with Matrics' fixed-location readers and RFID chips, along with the devices' underlying software. According to Symbol executives, the buyout of Rockville, Md.-based Matrics was meant to give the company the ability to offer a comprehensive RFID package.

Read more: Symbol buys RFID rival Matrics

3M Launches RFID Inventory System

3M has launched a new RFID inventory system for its partners Ozburn-Hessey Logistics and International Papers so that they may be better equipped by Wal-Mart's deadline.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

A worker can use the technology to pick up product and inventory information from several feet away without having to scan each box. [...]

3M entered the RFID business last year when it bought a specialty firm called HighJump Software, which makes inventory control systems for about 700 customers. It successfully test-launched the product this month after working with distribution specialist Ozburn-Hessey Logistics and International Paper.

Read more: 3M radio inventory system launched

Library RFID Tagging Sparks Privacy Concerns

More and more libraries are beginning to manage inventory and speed up the checkout process by inserting RFID chips on all of their books. The Berkeley Public Library is beginning the process this week, joining more than 300 RFID libraries around the world to date. Despite the advantages of library RFID use, concerns regarding privacy have mounted.

Katharine Mieszkowski at Salon.com writes:

Many libraries, including Berkeley, are declining to put the name of the book or even the book's ISBN, its international standard book number, on the microchip implanted in it. They're using a unique bar code number instead, one that would have to be hacked out of a library's circulation database to connect it to a specific title. That's not just to assuage the privacy concerns of readers. For inventory management, libraries need to track individual copies of books and not the words between a given book's covers.

Read more: The checkout line -- or the check-you-out line?

Digital Angel Tracks Dogs with RFID in Portugal

Portugal has begun to track dogs with RFID chips.

According to ZDNet UK:

On Friday, Digital Angel, which sells RFID scanning and communications tools for tracking everything from airplanes to farm animals, announced that it had won a $600,000 (£326,396) deal to start affixing radio tags to dogs in Portugal.

The deal was granted under a government initiative to control rabies in the country. Portuguese legislators have mandated that the estimated two million canines in the nation must be implanted with radio tags and registered in a national database by 2007.

Read more: Portugal takes RFID tags to dogs

Abbot Laboratories, Phizer, Others Begin Item-Level RFID Tagging

Phamarceuticals Abbot Laboratories, Phizer, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnston & Johnston have begun item-level tagging bottles of pills.

According to Information Week:

The bottles are being tracked as they move from manufacturers' plants to their distribution centers, then to distributors' facilities, retailers' distribution centers, and, finally, to CVS and Rite-Aid retail pharmacies. McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health are the participating distributors.

The pharmaceutical industry estimates that between 2% and 7% of all drugs sold globally are counterfeit.

Read more: Drugmakers 'Jumpstart' RFID Tagging of Bottles

China to Develop Own RFID Standards

China has decided to develop their own RFID standards, according to the Chinese National Standards Management Committee.

Purchasing Magazine Online reports:

The Chinese RFID standard will be compatible with the international standard, but will have its own intellectual property. The major differences are likely to concern radio frequency and other technical factors.

Read more: China to develop its own RFID standard

IBM WebSphere Product Center RFID Middleware Unveiled

IBM has announced the arrival of its newest RFID middleware package, WebSphere Product Center Version 5. It will help its users manage their supply chains more effectively and will have built-in support for RFID technology.

According to Market Wire:

Global Data Synchronization, one of the many initiatives for which IBM WebSphere Product Center is being deployed, is a standards-based process by which manufacturers and retailers can exchange product information. In a September, 2003 AMR Research Alert, Kara Romanow identified a potential $40 billion annual savings in data synchronization. IBM WebSphere Product Center can help IBM customers tap into these potential savings by easing the implementation of robust, production-quality global data synchronization.

Read more: IBM Unveils Software to Help Businesses Better Manage Product Information

Wal-Mart to Expand RFID in 2005

Wal-Mart announced that while their top 100 suppliers will be using RFID by January 1, 2005, their next 200 top suppliers will have to meet a compliance deadline by January 1, 2006.

According to Information Week:

But Langford added that another 37 small and midsize companies, including Beaver Street Fisheries and BP Amoco's Castrol North America Inc. division, that recognize RFID's potential benefits will also begin using the technology to track goods shipped to Wal-Mart at the start of the year.

Read more: Wal-Mart Plans Next Phase Of RFID

Pharmaceutical Industy Begins Item-Level RFID Tagging

A group of pharmaceutical manufacturers is beginning tests on item-level RFID tagging. Each bottle of prescription drugs would have its own unique RFID chip to prevent counterfeiting and to make tracking easier.

According to Information Week:

Participants in the "Jumpstart" project include drugmakers Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Procter & Gamble; medical supplies distributor McKesson Corp; and retailers CVS and Rite-Aid. The Accenture IT-consulting firm is playing a leading role in the project and the federal Food and Drug Administration is also involved, according to participants.

Read more: Drug Industry Experiments With Item-Level RFID

AirGate Technologies Develops RFID Car Seat

AirGate Technologies Inc. is currently developing a child car seat called Smart Buckle that would alert the driver if the seat buckle disengages using RFID technology.

According to Information Week:

Nearly 12% of children who weigh less than 60 pounds ride unrestrained in their safety seats, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Read more: RFID Chips in Kids' Car Seats

ABI Research: 50% of Phones to Use NFC, RFID by 2009

A recent study performed by ABI Research shows projects that one-half of all cell phones will be RFID-enabled to support near field communication (NFC) technology. The Nokia 5140 currently supports this technology.

According to the RFID Journal:

NFC technology uses short-range RFID transmissions that provide easy and secure communications between various devices. That means that, for example, making a reservation could be as simple as holding your phone close (less than 20 centimeters) to a poster or advertising billboard. Without ever dialing a number or speaking to anyone on the phone, you’d be able to purchase concert tickets, book hotel rooms and make other types of reservations and have these transactions charged to a credit card using account information stored in the handheld device or phone.

Read more: Developing RFID-Enabled Phones

Intermec Could Push Up RFID Price

If Intermec Technologies gets its way, companies would have to license the Gen 2 RFID technology, pushing the price of RFID tags upward.

According to CRN:

"It's not our intention to give away our innovation and IP," Mike Wills, vice president and general manager of Intermec, said.

The possibility of having to license technology used in the Gen 2 standard is significant because vendors have been struggling to reduce the per-unit cost of electronic tags, a key component of RFID, or radio-frequency identification, technology.

Read more: Royalties Expected To Increase Cost of RFID Technology

Kureha Environmental Engineering Tracks Medical Waste with RFID

Japanese medical waste disposal firm Kureha Environmental Engineering has begun RFID tracking tests at IBM Japan's Solutions Center in Yamato.

According to Information Week's article Japanese Waste-Mangagement Company Tests RFID:

Kureha Environmental Engineering says it's the first test of its kind using RFID in the Asia-Pacific region to track medical waste. The aim is to verify the effectiveness of RFID tagging in tracking medical-waste materials as they're transferred to disposal sites. The primary goal is to prevent illegal waste disposal by creating accountability with a tracing system for hospitals and transportation companies in Japan.

RFID Code of Practice Discussed in Australia

In Australia, an RFID code of practice is being developed by retailers and the privacy commissioner.

Computerworld reports in Retail group supports RFID code of practice:

Stephen Pereira, EAN Australia's chief information officer, said even though RFID technology has been around since 1945 standards were now necessary for its use in supply chain management.

"The Electronic Product Code is the business application of RFID technology for the supply chain; it's a number in a radio tag which uniquely defines a product," he said.

Australian Retail Association IT director, Chad Gates, said the introduction of RFID technology could potentially have a huge impact on Australia's retail industry.

Mexican Law Enforcers Get Chipped

Mexico's Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha and 160 of his employees have had RFID chips implanted in their arms for security reasons. The chips are the size of rice grains and are manufactured by VeriChip Corp.

Information Week reports:

Although developed and manufactured in the United States, the chips and the scanning technologies that work with them are still pretty much blocked for most human use in this country--although that could change if the FDA approves the devices for health care and medical use. VeriChip expects a decision from the FDA soon.

"We've sold about 7,000 [chips] worldwide," Angela Fulcher, VeriChip's VP of marketing and communications, said in an interview Thursday.

Read more

RFID in the Hospital

RFID to improve patient safety and hospital savings
RFID Gazette

Imagine the hospital of the future where unnecessary expenses will be cut and more patient lives will be saved. Say goodbye to the inefficiencies of the old hospital and welcome the new, highly cost-effective system of asset and personnel tracking, patient care, and billing, the keystone of which will be radio frequency identification technology.

RFID technology is already being deployed across the pharmaceutical industry to combat drug counterfeiting. The next frontier is the patient care center, in which the technology will be used to track medical instruments as well as patients and hospital personnel. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has recently stated new safety goals that should further expedite the process of RFID implementation in this field. It is not difficult to conclude that RFID technology should become a critical success factor for the medical center of the 21st century in terms of both improved patient safety and improved hospital savings.

Wal-Mart, Proctor & Gamble Oppose RFID Privacy Legislation

Representatives from Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that adopting a law to enforce privacy rules for RFID is unneccessary.

According to InfoWorld:

Privacy advocates told the committee legislation is needed to protect consumers from potential uses of RFID. Three privacy advocates testifying Wednesday offered few current examples of privacy concerns caused by RFID, but as the range of RFID scanning grows beyond the current 10 to 20 feet (305 to 610 centimeters), RFID could allow corporations and governments to track people's movements and purchases, they said. RFID uses small computer chips and antennas that are integrated into a paper or plastic label. Those chips can then be read by an electronic scanner.

Read more

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Microsoft to Add RFID Support to BizTalk Server

On Monday, Microsoft announced that they will be adding support to their Windows server software and possibly directly to the operating system itself.

According to Information Week:

The work within Microsoft's server software group is part of a broadening strategy to develop RFID capabilities across the company's product lines. Microsoft Business Solutions has outlined plans to upgrade its application suites to support RFID over the next two years.

In April, Microsoft disclosed formation of an RFID Council that originally included seven partner companies: Accenture, GlobeRanger, HighJump Software, Intermec Technologies, Manhattan Associates, and Provia Software.

Matrics AR 400 RFID Reader Is Gen-2 Ready

Matrics recently announced that their newest RFID reader, the AR 400, will be shipping soon. The reader is the first in the industry that will be compatible with EPCglobal's Gen 2 standards.

According to PR Newswire:

The AR 400 already operates in a multi-protocol mode, which includes Class 0, Class 0+, and Class 1 protocols. With the inclusion of Gen 2, it is the most versatile RFID reader on the market today.

Radio Beacon Introduces RFID Starter Kits

Radio Beacon has released the Wal-Mart RFID Compliance Kit, which includes the Microsoft Business Solutions interface, SCI PackBot software, an RFID printer, and 500 EPC smart labels starting at $12,890. They have also released the OnPortal Trial Pack, which includes an RFID scan tunnel, antennas, stack-light, photo-eye, SCI PortalBot software, and an SCI OnTrax computer.

Information Week reports:

The Wal-Mart RFID Compliance Pilot Kit lets companies begin labeling cartons and pallets to meet the specifications set by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major retailers. The OnPortal Trial Pack provides the data-gathering technology for scanning cases and pallets as they enter the warehouse.

Officials with Radio Beacon, which makes warehouse management systems, said the kits are a "quick way" for companies to get started with RFID and meet Wal-Mart requirements.

Impinj Moves into RFID Chip Manufacturing

Seattle-based Impinj has raised an additional $22 million in venture capital to move from development into manufacturing of RFID chips.

The Seattle Times reports:

To that end, Impinj has raised $22 million in venture capital, to move from development into manufacturing. Mobius Venture Capital participated along with previous investors ARCH Venture Partners, Madrona Venture Group and Polaris Venture Partners.

Unilever Technology Ventures and UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund also contributed as strategic investors. In addition to contributing cash, they are expected to lend their industry expertise and could eventually be customers.

Startup Viper Motorcycle Co. Employs RFID

Startup Viper Motorcylcle Co. is budgeting another $14,000 this year on RFID alone for asset tracking in their supply chain.

According to InformationWeek:

Though RFID tags have yet to reach the hoped-for 5-cent-per-item level, Viper in April began putting the tags, which now cost about 50 cents a pop, on transmissions, engines, headlights, gas tanks, and other parts valued at more than $75 each. Viper's investment in RFID, hardware, software, and other IT technology to date is approximately $150,000. [...]

The company saw its first payoff on the RFID investment when Lowenthal identified and located--in an employee's van-- a missing $2,400 transmission after conducting a random inventory audit last month.

Read more

Vatican Library Employs RFID Tracking

Some of the world’s oldest and most treasured books and manuscripts in the world are going high-tech. For centuries, the ancient Vatican Apostolic Library has been entrusted with guarding and preserving some of the world’s greatest cultural treasures, from the oldest known Bible known as “Codex B” to thousands of priceless medals and Roman-era coins.

Now, officials at the ancient Vatican Apostolic Library, founded in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V, are implanting RFID tracking tags in the library’s 1.6 million volumes. Already, 50,000 volumes in the public reading rooms have been tagged with Texas Instruments’ Tag-it™ 13.56 MHz inlays that are compliant with ISO / IEC 15693 standards.

Ozburn-Hessey Logistics Launches RFID-Enabled Distribution Network

On July 1, Ozburn-Hessey Logistics launched a fully integrated RFID-enabled distribution network at its Dallas Regional Distribution Campus.

According to Yahoo! Finance:

"Anchored by OHL's RFID Compliance Center located within that company's Dallas Regional Distribution Campus, the RFID-integrated distribution network will serve three of Wal-Mart's Distribution Centers all within 60 miles of OHL's campus. At the Compliance Center, all pallets and cases are RFID-tagged using a 64-bit Electronic Product Code (EPC), a 24-bit Object Class Code and a 36-bit Serial number operating in the UHF frequency range and are Class 1 compliant. OHL will upgrade to the Class 2 standard once available.

"According to Bob Spieth, CIO of OHL, the RFID Compliance Center is networked with OHL's WMS, thereby allowing the Company to offer a fully- integrated RFID solution to its customer."

Japanese Children to Be RFID Tagged

Concerns about school safety have led one primary school in Japan to adopt RFID technology to track its students, according to the Osaka bureau of telecommunications industy.

The National Business Review reports:

"Tag readers will be installed at the school gate and at other key locations parents and teachers agree are dangerous for children.

"RFID tag data can be transmitted to central databases by wireless connections and taged items can be tracked in real or near-real time, depending on software and hardware capacity constraints."

Intermec Claims RFID Is Proprietary

Intermec Technologies specializes in barcode and RFID technologies for supply chain management. They began an intellectual property infringement litigation against Matrics, an RFID reader and tag manufacturer, last month over four patents dealing with the technology. ABI Research analyst Erik Michielsen has explained that were the lawsuit to be upheld, Intermec would attempt to get licensing fees from other manufacturers in the future.

According to Line56:

"Those manufacturers are legion and occupy every niche in the RFID hardware value chain (silicon, tag inlay, readers, and all their combinations). They include not only Matrics but also Texas Instuments, Philips Semiconductor, Alien, Impinj, etc."

Metro AG Opens RFID Demonstration Center

Metro AG, the world's fifth largest retailer, will rollout smart tags beginning in November. In the meantime, they have opened a new RFID demonstration center in Neuss, Germany to showcase the technology to its suppliers.

According to InfoWorld:

" 'The center will show RFID applications not only in the logistics area but also in the shopping and home areas,' according to [Metro spokesman Albrecht von] Truchsess. 'The center will allow our suppliers to meet with our IT partners and discuss opportunities,' he said.

"IBM Corp. and Intermec Technologies Inc. announced deals on Wednesday to supply Metro with smart-tag technology." Read more

Wal-Mart's Size Helps Advance RFID Usage

Without Wal-Mart, it is hard to tell where RFID technology would be today. Although still a technology in the works, RFID has come a long way due in large part to the retail giant.

According to CBS MarketWatch:

"The cost of this still-fledgling use of this technology is astronomical. Shifting from bar codes to these chips that look like a speck of dirt on a baby's finger is a multibillion dollar undertaking.

"Printing bar-code labels on packages is considerably cheaper than the present 30 cent to 60 cent cost per chip. Judy Dobson, managing partner of NCR, said the costs inevitably will go down, but probably not soon enough." Read more

SAS Announces RFID Capabilities

SAS has announced at SAS Forum International 2004 that their software will be able to deliver solutions from RFID data.

ITWeb reports:

"SAS's data management offerings, including software for ETL (extraction, transformation and load) and data quality help companies bring together, organise and cleanse RFID and other data. Then SAS's powerful predictive analytics help these companies distinguish what's important from what isn't, uncover patterns and trends, and identify opportunities for improvement. Finally, SAS's broad solution offerings can help organisations analyse RFID data as part of their performance management efforts." Read more

California RFID Privacy Bill Rejected

A California Senate bill that was sponsored by State Senator Deborah Brown (D-Redondo Beach) was to set privacy standards for RFID technology in the state. The bill, however, was defeated by the assembly's Committee on Business and Professions 8-0 with five abstentions.

According to the RFID Journal:

"Opponents convinced the majority of the committee members that the timing for the bill (SB1834) was wrong and that the bill should not precede the actual installation of RFID in businesses and libraries. Opponents indicated in a letter to assembly members that it was inappropriate to pass legislation regarding a technology before it had been determined how RFID tags would actually be used."

IBM Opens RFID Test Center in Europe

With analysts expecting manufacturers to be spending $3 billion on RFID technology in 2007, IBM has opened up a new test center in Nice, France. The facility will test chips, readers and applications software.

According to Computer Business Review:

"The new center, which is based in Nice, France, will test RFID chips, data-collection readers and related applications software to find out if they integrate effectively and work well together. It will mirror the facilities of an existing US RFID testing laboratory in Gaithersburg, Maryland and an RFID Solution Center at its Yamato Laboratory in Kanagawa, Japan." Read more

Zebra Introduces RFID Printer

Zebra Technologies has introduced an RFID printer and encoder for SMEs.

According to CXOtoday:

"Zebra launched the first RFID printer/encoder desktop printer in the market nearly four years ago, and the new 13.56 MHz R2844-Z model expands its RFID portfolio. The printer combines a compact footprint with all the support and connectivity features of Zebra's industrial-sized printers.

"According to Zebra, the new R2844-Z can be used in libraries and video rental outlets for automating the issue and return process as well as security tagging and in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector for encoding information onto patient wristbands and prescription medicines." Read more

Delta Commits to RFID Luggage Tracking

Delta Airlines is prepared to spend $15 - $25 million rolling out a nationwide RFID luggage tracking system throughout the United States. They expect to save $100 million annually.

ZDNet reports:

"Delta ran a trial of the system earlier this year on flights from its base in Atlanta to Jacksonville, Fla., and the company says it can track bags 100 percent of the time. The airline has suggested that it may later give customers the opportunity to track their own bags.

"Tag readers will be located in several places: at check-in counters, along conveyer belts leading to the areas where baggage handlers work, and at the entrance to airplane cargo holds." Read more