For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Subscribe to
Computerworld 40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.
|
|
|
|
August 18, 2003 (Computerworld) -- Even if all the tag and reader issues are worked out, simply slapping tags on pallets, cases or individual products and installing readers won't produce the real-time flow of data that retailers and suppliers need to gain the full benefits of RFID technology. RFID is going to change business processes so fundamentally that users will have to either install new, possibly experimental applications or endure a massive rewrite of existing programs, warns Gartner's Jeff Woods.
"I don't see anything [happening] with RFID-centric warehouse management or manufacturing, or even retail processes," he says. "It's a classic innovators' dilemma, because everyone is so heavily invested in bar-code-based infrastructure and processes that they are the least likely ones to make the wholesale transition quickly."
The first applications will emerge in the next two to three years, Woods says. Emerging vendors, such as OatSystems Inc. in Watertown, Mass., are working on the problem, as are established vendors such as Manhattan Associates Inc., SAP AG and IBM.
"Through 2007, we're going to see primarily applications that use RFID tags in the context of bar-code-based processes—things like receiving at the back door with an RFID tag instead of a bar code," Woods predicts. "It's the three-to-seven-year time frame when we will start to see entirely new processes come about."
The Auto-ID Center's response to managing the flow of data is special-purpose server software, called a Savant, which it predicts will be running in stores, distribution centers, offices and factories. Savants will gather, store and act on information and interact with other Savants, deciding which information needs to be forwarded up or down the supply chain, the center claims.
Under the Auto-ID Center's proposal, RFID tags will contain a limited amount of information in a 64- or 96-bit electronic product code (EPC). The reader pulls the EPC from the tag and passes it to a Savant, which in turn forwards it to an Object Name Service server and then a Physical Markup Language server on a local network or the Internet to find information stored about the product. The Savant can then retrieve the file and forward it to the company's inventory or supply chain applications.
"The Auto-ID Center moved the problem of data from the tag into the system," says Steve Halliday, president of High Tech Aid in Gibsonia, Pa. But he predicts that some companies will want tags that can store more data so they can find out the contents of pallets and cases on the spot where the tags are scanned, rather than having to connect to a Savant and other servers.
"All that RFID does for a retailer or a manufacturer is give them more granular information about their products," says Crawford. "Mastering that process is the critical efficiency issue for the next 20 years easily for retailers and manufacturers."
The Auto-ID Center's Futuristic Vision for RFID
Please click on image above to view a readable version.
1. Tags embedded with microchips and tiny radio antennas are affixed to products, cases and pallets. Each tag stores a unique electronic product code (EPC).
2. A reader beams a radio wave that is picked up by a tag's antenna. The tag "wakes up" and broadcasts its EPC to the reader.
3. The readers sends the EPCs to a computer running server software called a Savant.
4. The Savant sends the EPC over the Internet or a private network to an Object Name Service (ONS) database server, which refers it to another server that contains information about the tagged product in Physical Markup Language (PML) format.
5. The PML server sends the requested data back to the Savant.
6. Through prebuilt application interfaces, the Savant sends the information to the back-end inventory, warehousing, manufacturing or retail systems.
Note: the first version of the EPC system specification is due for release in September.
Source: Auto-ID CenteR, Xplane Corp.
|
Print this Story |
|
Send Us Feedback |
|
E-mail this Story |
|
Digg this Story |
|
Slashdot this Story |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone |
 See your link here
|
 |
||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Download this Technology Briefing now!
Why SaaS is Vital to Email and Web Security
Download this white paper, free, compliments of Kodak!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
- Elgan: You can be Batman, too
- Study: IT jobs will drop in 2009
- RIM fixes critical BlackBerry Enterprise Server bug
- More top stories
Cost Effective Scaling with Virtualization and Coyote Point Systems An overview of the industry trend toward virtualization, how server consolidation has increased the importance of application uptime and the steps being taken to integrate load balancing technology with virtualized servers.
Download this white paper now!
|
| XenServer FREE trial Citrix XenServer is the simplest and most effective way to virtualize and provision servers. XenServer combines comprehensive server virtualization capabilities with unparalleled scalability, performance, economics, and ease-of-use. Based on the open source Xen hypervisor, XenServer delivers fast performance, easy management, and advanced features such as live migration. |
