 | Thursday, July 2, 2009
Issue 1051 | | Will Smith, Editor |  |
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Editor's Note: Today's top story highlights RFID news and developments from this past week. Industrial, warehouse and public sector deployments around the world, new passive UHF and active RFID products, enhanced RTLS capabilities from a leading wireless LAN vendor, and organizational developments highlight this week's news.
Don't forget to take a look at the 2009 RFID Marketing Strategies Report and 2009 RFID Brand Report. The companion reports offer critical marketing insight for RFID companies, Top-10 rankings of the current RFID leaders, and branding and advertising guidance that are invaluable in the current economic climate. Learn more about the reports: |
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RFID Weekly News Roundup July 2, 2009
By John Burnell
Industrial, warehouse and public sector deployments around the world, new passive UHF and active RFID products, enhanced RTLS capabilities from a leading wireless LAN vendor and organizational developments highlight this week's RFID news.- SMRT, a public transportation provider in Singapore, contracted fellow Singaporean firm TCM RFiD to implement an RFID warehouse inventory control system, according to several online reports. SMRT received funding for the project from Singapore Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), a government agency that plans to co-fund 30 RFID projects between 2008 and 2012.
- Container Centralen, a Danish company that provides reusable transport containers to 80,000 growers, wholesalers and retailers in the horticulture industry, plans to outfit all of its containers with RFID tags by next February. Container Centralen's plant pot containers are packed at the grower and used for retail display. The company will track them throughout its supply chain using RFID technology provided by IBM, which will also automate handling operations. See the announcement for more details.
- UPM Raflatac released details of a project it completed at power and electronics manufacturer ABB that uses RFID to record two million goods transactions per year. ABB is using the RFID system, which was installed with help from Vilant Systems, a solution provider in Finland, to record goods movements. RFID tracking integrates with ABB's ERP system from SAP to verify that orders are complete, prevent trailers from being loaded if items are missing from a shipment, and record outbound parcels. Separately, UPM Raflatac announced it will provide the inlays for the RFID access control system for the upcoming European Youth Olympic Festival in Finland.
- The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Newport Digital Technologies (NDT) and the Institute for Information Industry jointly announced they signed an agreement to develop and distribute a military-grade handheld Gen2 UHF RFID reader. The organizations also said they are producing 10,000 units worth $18 million for delivery to a US telecom operator by the end of the year. The P37M reader includes the R1000 chipset (first developed by Intel, now owned by Impinj -- see Impinj Buys Intel's RFID Business, Cements Leadership), new security technology from Hitachi, will use the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system and support multiple wireless connectivity options. NDT also announced Gary DelMel, most recently of Intel, as its new CEO.
- Trapeze Networks, a mainstream wireless LAN technology provider, has enhanced its RTLS capabilities. This week the company announced the Trapeze LA-200E Location Appliance, which can be used with WiFi RTLS tags to locate and monitor assets and people on 802.11-standard networks. In April the company had released version 4.0 of its ActiveAsset software for wireless asset tracking.
- Hi-G-Tek a developer of active RFID technology headquartered in Rockville, Maryland introduced sensing and control products that conform to the ISO 18000-7 active RFID standard. Hi-G-Tek said it already received a purchase order for its new 18.7 Secure Series of readers and tags, which were developed for tracking high-value cargo. For more about the 18000-7 standard and efforts to commercialize it, see DASH7 Alliance Forms to Advance Active RFID Standard.
- The European Commission appointed Daniel Caprio Jr. to the working group responsible for implementing its RFID privacy recommendations, which are available here. Caprio is managing director of law firm McKenna, Long & Aldridge, which specializes in the RFID industry and maintains the RFID Law Blog.
- Passive UHF RFID tags proved extremely reliable in a three-year study of performance in the produce supply chain, with 109 of 110 pallet tags remaining readable at the conclusion of the study. The Packer, a news outlet for the food industry, reported on the project, which was sponsored by the Reusable Packaging Association and involved multiple suppliers and RFID technology from different providers.
- Crawley Library in the UK installed an RFID-based self-service system from Axiell, a library automation solution provider in the UK. The installation was completed approximately six months ago and was announced today. More than 90 percent of Crawley Library patrons are using the self-service system.
- Globes, an Israeli news outlet, reported Silicon Valley-headquartered RTLS provider AeroScout recently raised $13 million. AeroScout was said to have received $7 million from existing investors plus a $6 million venture loan. The funding was separate from $10 million AeroScout received earlier this year, the report said.
- Digilogics, a label converter in Mexico, and UPM Raflatac are partnering to develop RFID label solutions for the Mexican retail, government, supply chain and other industries. The firms also announced they worked with Productos Dorel to create a tag converting line in Mexico City and opened a retail demonstration center there.
- Digital Angel said it received a $745,000 contract from Bonneville Power Administration of Portland, Oregon to provide RFID systems for tracking fish as they migrate past hydroelectric facilities. More details are in the announcement.
- MBBS, a Swiss-based developer of harsh environment RFID systems, was acquired by Elecsys for approximately $750,000 in stock. Elecsys is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas and creates customized electronics for customers, including ruggedized mobile computers, LCDs and wireless monitoring solutions. See the announcement for more details.
- Guard Active RFID Solutions, a tag developer in Delta, British Columbia, announced two enhancements to its product line. The first is the ability to integrate its active RFID products for personal identification with closed circuit television (CCTV) systems and IP video to provide security monitoring. The company also announced a disposable tag designed to work with umbilical cord clamps that are placed on newborns. The new TotGuard tag is tamper resistant and is intended to prevent infant abductions.
- DecisionPoint Systems, which develops software applications that use data from RFID and other inputs, began trading under a new ticker symbol, DNPI, on the OTC exchange, after recently completing a reverse merger. More details here.
- Laboratory specimen tracking solution provider Ambient ID introduced LabTrack, an RFID-based solution that enables medical specimens to be track-and-traced through the entire laboratory testing supply chain, "from patient to pathologist."
- RFID hardware solution provider iDTRONIC has announced three new Gen2 RFID tag products. The new Indus Tags use Alien Technology's Higgs-3 chip and are designed for industrial applications.
Previously this week RFID Update covered:
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