 | Thursday, January 24, 2008
Issue 763 | | Will Smith, Editor |  |
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Editor's Note: Today's top story is a recap of a recent IDTechEx piece which quantifies a number of trends in the RFID market's development last year.
EM Microelectronic announced that it has shipped over 250 million of its UHF RFID chips, many of them to support the item-level apparel tracking initiative by British retailer Marks & Spencer. The announcement notes that the chips are designed for "license plate" tags; that is, they only store a single identification number, and do not offer more advanced features like re-writing, extended memory, password protection, etc. EM Microelectronic acknowledges that its chip bucks the trend toward Gen2, but asserts that doing so has been a reason for its success at M&S. "It is exactly our low complexity, back-to-the-roots approach that made the success of EM's chips in the M&S project," CEO Marc Degrauwe was quoted. "Lower complexity requires less expensive production process and allows [us] to offer very competitive pricing."
Lastly, Magellan Technology has identified DNA and specimen tagging as another application for its signature StackTag RFID technology. According to the company, as many as 1,000 stacked microscope slides can be read in a few seconds with its technology. "It's not a problem when the tags on two different DNA samples touch and as a result, many more samples can be stored on the shelves or in the cabinets," explained Magellan sales and marketing VP Ken Laing in the announcement. "In fact, the savings in time and labour combined with the fact that hundreds if not thousands of samples can be stored more compactly, once again demonstrates Magellan's commitment to identifying applications that until now could not effectively or reliably use RFID." For more on Magellan's technology, see RFID Solution Tracks 100,000 Individual Documents. |
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| Products & Services | | - Real-Time WIP Visibility Appliance from Omnitrol Networks (site) | | - Tag & SpyTM: NOX Surveillance by SimplyRFID (site) | | | Upcoming Events | | - RFID World Asia 2008, 8 to 11 April, Suntec Singapore (site) | | - SCAN & RFID CHINA 2008, June 19-21, Guangzhou, China (site) | | - 5th Annual DoD RFID Summit - Feb 26-27 - Arlington, VA (site) | | - RFID Smart Labels USA - Boston, MA - February 20-21, 2008 (site) | | - Global RFID ROI 2008, 29th - 30th January, Munich, Germany (site) | | | Employment | | - RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting (site) | | | Research & Whitepapers | | - RFID Marketing Strategies Report from RFID Update (site) | | | RFID Tags & Labels | | - Ferroxtag HF tags: Smart on Metal! (site) | |
Highlights from IDTechEx's Review of RFID in 2007
Research firm IDTechEx recently published a list of observations about RFID market development in 2007. Many of the statistics are based on the number of projects added last year to the company's RFID Knowledgebase, a growing collection of RFID deployment case studies and announcements from around the world. Following are selected highlights:- The total worldwide RFID market reached $5 billion in 2007, a figure that includes the cost not just of tags and readers, but of all hardware and software.
- While $5 billion may be an impressive figure, $2 billion of it was due to the national ID program in China, which caused a surge that will subside now that the purchases have largely been made. Another consequence of the ID program is that it made China the largest RFID market in the world. Second largest was the US, which will likely move to first as the Chinese spend on RFID returns to normalized levels.
- Despite the waning national ID program, IDTechEx views the Chinese market as a robust one. "There are a vast number of new RFID projects in China that will take up the slack now that the glory days of the national ID card are over," reads the analysis. "They are hugely varied from people and construction materials to mail bags and the prospect of having to tag 150 million pet dogs and 2.4 billion pigs yearly by law."
- Based on 2007 additions to its knowledge base, IDTechEx calculates that the top ten national markets by number of projects (not revenues) were, from largest to smallest: the US, the UK, China, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, and Canada.
- Using a similar analysis, IDTechEx calculates that Financial, Security, and Safety was the largest RFID application category in terms of number of projects. Worldwide growth in e-passports and contactless credit cards were largely to thank for the category's dominance, which was also helped along by RFID tickets and access cards. All told, the category accounted for nearly a fifth of the new RFID applications that went online in 2007. Passenger Transport, Automotive came in second, with 13% of the total. Healthcare saw a bump from 2006. It still represents less than 10% of the total, "but it is clearly becoming increasingly important."
- Projects that involve the tagging of people grew to 11% of the total in 2007, which suggests that despite bad press and pushback from privacy advocates, human-tagging applications that demonstrate clear safety and security benefits are gaining in popularity. "It may not please the privacy advocates but [RFID] allowed nurses to radio their precise location when they were being assaulted, mother-baby mismatches and baby theft to be reduced, pedophiles to be controlled, prisoner escapes prevented and severe diabetics getting correct treatment before they died in the street," writes IDTechEx. "Should we be ashamed of that?"
- Active RFID's widely reported adoption growth was also in evidence. Just under a third of all new projects documented by IDTechEx in 2007 -- and now more than a fifth of all projects on record -- involved active RFID technology. IDTechEx also notes how much of the investment and M&A activity in 2007 involved active RFID companies. (RFID Update recorded $165.2 million across 13 deals over the 18 months ending in December, more than any other segment. See RFID & RTLS Sees $433M Invested Over Last 18 Months.)
- IDTechEx foresees the national ID card in the UK as the largest impending RFID project, which will cost an initial $10 billion but could rise to triple that.
- High frequency, an older and less "sexy" sector of the RFID market, is not only the leading RFID frequency by number of projects, it is still growing. While many deem the HF market mature and relatively staid, IDTechEx argues the contrary. For one thing, many of the world's largest deployments, like national ID cards, use HF. For another, significant advancements are still occurring in the technology. So bullish is the company on HF, it recently published a report examining the market entitled HF RFID - the Great Leap Forward.
- The research firm gave high marks to the passive RFID and WiFi RTLS vendor communities for pushing their agendas and being assertive marketers. Vendors from other segments of the RFID market, notably HF, were quiet and modest by comparison. "The passive UHF and WiFi RTLS people publicise even the smallest orders, drive standards (tires, pallets, cases, baggage, etc.) and constantly penetrate even the most obscure applications in far away places," IDTechEx observes. "In general, this is to be commended, and those promoting products at HF and other frequencies could learn from it."
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| Products & Services | Real-Time WIP Visibility Appliance from Omnitrol Networks
Meet the industry's most innovative award winning RFID solution that enables complete work-order traceability in manufacturing. Real-time web-based dashboards and multi-site monitoring for work-order pedigree and traceability, including proactive bottleneck management and real-time performance analytics optimizing shop-floor efficiency. All at the lowest TCO in the marketplace. www.omnitrol.com/WIP. | Tag & SpyTM: NOX Surveillance by SimplyRFID
Find out "Who Took It" and "Where It Is Now" with our "Stealth to Catch the Stealthy" RFID Surveillance systems. Alerts direct to your cell phone. Unprecedented accuracy and court-usable identification. Protect valuable equipment and documents! From the people trusted by more than 2,000 DoD (Department of Defense) Suppliers. Visit: www.SimplyRFID.com | | | Upcoming Events | RFID World Asia 2008, 8 to 11 April, Suntec Singapore
RFID World Asia 2008 is THE event for finding out the transforming power of RFID for your business and its future. Sign up now for RFID Asia Summit 2008, targeted at senior-level executives; to understand and reap the benefits of this new business tool. For more information go to www.terrapinn.com/2008/rfid | SCAN & RFID CHINA 2008, June 19-21, Guangzhou, China
As one of the earliest, most specialized and authoritative exhibitions in China, approved and supported directly from State Ministry, the 8th SCAN & RFID CHINA 2008 will present you the impressive up-dated development and market of RFID technology in rising China. To know more, please go to www.scan-china.com. | 5th Annual DoD RFID Summit - Feb 26-27 - Arlington, VA
If you conduct business with the Department of Defense (DoD), you need to be at the DoD RFID Summit to stay abreast of the latest technology developments and take advantage of the "roll-up-your-sleeves" RFID implementation guidance that will be delivered for DoD personnel and DoD suppliers! Register now at www.DoDRFIDsummit.com. | RFID Smart Labels USA - Boston, MA - February 20-21, 2008
RFID Smart Labels USA 2008; the seventh annual analyst-driven event covers the hot RFID sectors, full technology analysis and market insight. February 20-21, 2008, in Boston, MA. Visit www.IDTechEx.com/USA to find out more and register. | Global RFID ROI 2008, 29th - 30th January, Munich, Germany
Taking place 29th and 30th January, Global RFID ROI 2008 is bringing together the leading RFID practitioners from a broad cross section of industries that will give you the opportunity of discovering the real ROI behind RFID implementation. View the full programme at http://www.rfid-roi.com/downloadpdfx2.asp and to register, please call 0044 207 202 7558. | | | Employment | RFID Recruiters - 100% Focused on RFID Recruiting
Whether your company is looking for the best RFID talent or you have the best RFID talent and are looking for the best RFID employer, RFID Recruiters offers the most focused approach to your objective. To learn how the RFID industry and the RFID job market are evolving, visit www.rfidrecruiters.com | | | Research & Whitepapers | RFID Marketing Strategies Report from RFID Update
Thirty-nine pages of original research on RFID audience perceptions, including 30+ figures of tactics, content & messaging, and recommendations to guide marketing strategy. Also, Top-10 RFID company rankings based on 550+ survey respondents. View the executive summary free, with Top-3 sample rankings. Only $495 Individual License or $795 Corporate License. Available now | | | RFID Tags & Labels | Ferroxtag HF tags: Smart on Metal!
Ferroxtag is a new family of HF RFID tags suitable for operation on metallic surfaces. Ferroxtag's special ferrite antenna was developed using Ferroxcube's years of experience in ferrite technology. The high performance antenna means longer read range with a smaller tag. Visit www.ferroxtag.com |
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RFID Update is the RFID industry daily. Launched in early 2004 to provide timely analysis of RFID industry news, RFID Update publishes editorial briefings every weekday for the growing ranks of top level executives involved in the deployment of RFID. Each issue delivers the breaking news and analysis most pertinent to successful RFID implementations, allowing readers to understand global RFID developments as they happen.
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