In this issue:

• U.S. Navy Uses RFID to Track Wounded in Iraq
• Alpine Farm Stores Deliver Cashless Speed and Convenience With Freshpass
• MultiRead System Streamlines Livestock Identification
• RFID World is Largest Industry Event for RFID Buyers and Suppliers
• VARs Predict Growing Business Opportunities for RFID

U.S. Navy Uses RFID to Track Wounded in Iraq
The U.S. Navy, working with systems developer ScenPro, Inc. (www.scenpro.com), is using TI-RFid technology to more efficiently track the status and location of hundreds of wounded soldiers and airmen, prisoners of war, refugees and others arriving for treatment at Fleet Hospital Three, a 9-acre, 116-bed facility in Southern Iraq. ScenPro’s Tactical Medical Coordination System (TacMedCS) allows medical professionals to use RFID-enabled wristbands to identify patients, and to update their status, location and medical information in the system’s electronic whiteboard automatically.

The Navy implemented TacMedCS to replace a labor-intensive, entirely manual system consisting of pen and paper, cardboard tags, and a centrally located whiteboard to show patient movement throughout the hospital. With the new electronic system, each patient at Fleet Hospital Three receives an RFID Smart Band® (manufactured by Precision Dynamics Corp. (www.pdcorp.com)) with a Tag-it™ smart label inlay, on which basic identification information is stored. Medical professionals use a handheld RFID reader from A.C.C. Systems Inc. (www.accsystemsinc.com) to read the unique identification number, and add or change data to create a digital treatment record that travels with the patient as he or she is moved throughout the facility. Using a wireless LAN, patient information is transferred to an electronic patient management system, further eliminating manual re-entering of data at a central computer terminal.

“When Fleet Hospital Three came to us at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) looking for a system that would help streamline administration, patient ID and tracking while engaged in Iraq, we knew that TacMedCS would be a most effective solution,” said HMC Michael Stiney, U.S. Navy. “The ability to keep important information with each patient, and to track his or her whereabouts automatically, have helped medical professionals at this facility better manage patient care.”

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Alpine Farm Stores Deliver Cashless Speed and Convenience With Freshpass
Buying every-day items like milk and bread has never been easier. Using a drive-thru window, Alpine Farm customers buy groceries without ever stepping foot inside the store. To make this quick and convenient service even easier, systems integrator CAP Automation, www.capautomation.com, was charged with developing a cashless payment and loyalty application.

The new application, called Freshpass, uses TI-RFid transponders attached to a vehicle’s dashboard. As drivers approach the customer display, it reads information from the transponder over a six-foot range, and recognizes the customer. The clerk can quickly view the customer’s last three orders and develop a more targeted greeting such as: “Good morning Mr. Johnson, would you like your usual coffee with cream, a Krispy Kreme donut and a morning newspaper?”

As the order is placed, the customer’s preferred payment method is read by the CAP database and sent automatically via the Internet to be billed on the customer’s chosen credit or debit card.

The total time spent in the drive-thru for a Freshpass member is 30 seconds compared to the usual 2-3 minutes. These customers also frequently receive rewards, such as free items and coupons. There is currently one Alpine Farm store open in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, using Freshpasss, and another store slated to open in southeastern Pa. later this year.

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MultiRead System Streamlines Livestock Identification
Australia-based Aleis International has developed the new Aleis MultiRead System, designed to streamline livestock identification and tracking, and to assist cattle owners with compliance to Australia’s National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS).

Established to meet livestock identification and traceability requirements mandated by the European Union (EU) in 1999, NLIS is the largest and most sophisticated livestock database and management system in the world. NLIS livestock producers are required to positively identify cattle. To meet these requirements, they are using a rumen pellet or ear tag containing a low frequency (134.2 kHz) RFID transponder. These RFID devices feature read / write capabilities, allowing producers to add, change, or retrieve details relating to each animal, such as health information, farm location history, market eligibility, and commercial information, on the spot.

Warrnambool Livestock Exchange in Victoria, Australia is the first saleyard to implement the Aleis MultiRead System, which reads multiple RFID tags simultaneously, including TI’s ISO 11784/5 compliant low frequency transponders. As animals of varying size move through the saleyard weigh system, readers installed across a laneway, or at the entrance or exit to a weighbridge, identify and track their movements. Because RFID technology does not require line-of-sight, it takes only a millisecond to read a cattle’s unique ID number, allowing animals to be identified quickly and accurately, without physical restraint. As many as 3,000 cattle can be recorded each day with the Aleis MultiRead System, compared to previous methods, which tracked a daily average of only a few hundred animals.

In addition to compliance with EU guidelines, other advantages of the Aleis MultiRead System include more accurate tracking and data capture, faster processing time, decreased labor costs, and more efficient communication throughout the entire supply chain.

For more information about Aleis or the NLIS, please visit www.aleis.com.

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RFID World is Largest Industry Event for RFID Buyers and Suppliers
Nearly 500 people registered to attend, exhibit and speak at the inaugural RFID World Conference & Expo, held May 12 - 14, at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center. The exhibition, which was sponsored by Texas Instruments RFid Systems is the first to focus exclusively on RFID solutions for a wide array of enterprise applications.

"The success of RFID World is attributable to its focus on the efficiency and productivity gains that enterprise customers see today with RFID technology," said Timothy Downs, president of Shorecliff Communications, producers of RFID World. "The number of qualified buyers in attendance demonstrate that RFID is a technology in demand now, in a wide array of business applications, and not a distant, far-term solution to current IT challenges."

"Based on the success of the show, and the interest we have received from exhibitors and attendees for future events, we expect RFID World to be the showcase event for RFID solutions providers in North America," Downs continued.

“After more than a decade of being in the RFID business, the time has finally come for an event dedicated entirely to the successful deployments and opportunities for RFID,” said Bill Allen, marketing communications manager, TI-RFid Systems. “We’re pleased to be the signature sponsor of this inaugural conference, and we feel it was very successful based on attendance and the positive response from both attendees and participants.”

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VARs Predict Growing Business Opportunities for RFID
Distributors, systems integrators, and value-added resellers (VARs) attending TI’s RFID Boot Camp “Real Revenues and ROI Right Now” on May 12 in Ft. Lauderdale Florida, predict a bright outlook for RFID over the next 36 months. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said that RFID currently comprises none of their current auto-ID deployments. However in three years, 24 percent said RFID would represent more than 50 percent of their auto-ID deployments, with 27 percent saying RFID would represent from 36-50 percent of their auto-ID business. When asked what is driving their interest in RFID, 72 percent said they see new business opportunities for the technology and 53 percent said their customers were requesting it.

In what industry do VARs and integrators think RFID applications will have the greatest impact in the next three years? Respondents were asked to rank their top three choices from a list of the following – access control, anti-counterfeiting, item-level retail tracking, supply chain, ticketing and wireless payment. According to those surveyed, 72 percent ranked “supply chain”, 54 percent said “item-level retail tracking” and 43 percent put “access control” and “anti-counterfeiting” (tied) in their top three RFID applications that will have the most impact in the next three years.

When it comes to misconceptions or concerns about RFID technology that integrators and VARs are encountering, they most often cite cost, read range, privacy, environmental and security issues. “It’s clear that as RFID moves to the mainstream, we need to educate a larger segment of the technology, business and consumer market about the broader value and benefits of RFID,” said Bill Allen, marketing communications manager, TI-RFid.

The first Texas Instruments RFID Boot Camp attracted 185 participants, which included distributors, systems integrators, VARs and end-users. The next RFID Boot Camp will be held in the coming months.

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Partner Profile: Tek Industries

1) What primary opportunities do you see for RFID today?

With the increased adaptability of RFID, data collection is in the process of undergoing a revolutionary change from static barcodes to RFID technology. We predict that within the next five years, RFID based sales will surpass barcode sales. The markets where RFID have the greatest potential include supply chain, security, and point of sale.

2) How are you helping your customers adopt RFID?

Our main product line features the Tek Protégé, an attachable RFID scanner that quickly snaps together with a P.D.A. (Palm IIIe, Palm IIIc, Handera TRG Pro, Palm VII, Palm i705.) It is entirely self contained, extremely durable, and does not draw power from the P.D.A. The scanner comes in a variety of models and protocols, which cover both low frequency (134.2 Khz) and high frequency (13.56 Mhz). Custom applications of reasonable complexity are included free of charge for orders of 10 or more scanners.

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Feature: RFID Pundits Agree – The Time for RFID is Now

Industry analysts squared off in a debate at the recent RFID World conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the hype versus reality of the low-cost, high-volume RFID tag, but ultimately agreed that the issue is not the cost of the chip but rather the business value and opportunities created by the technology. “My advice is to stop worrying about the penny tag – it’s simply not relevant,” implored James Crawford, VP of Retail Forward. “Rather than waiting for tag prices to drop,” manufacturers and retailers alike should focus on developing the business rules for collaboration and the use of real-time data in supply chain and inventory management.

In his presentation “The Truth About Low-Cost RFID in Retail,” Crawford indicated that in item-level retail tracking, data infrastructure is “the missing link” between RFID hardware and enterprise applications, such as enterprise resource planning. He argued, “The infrastructure between the readers and enterprise applications must handle an immense amount of data,” noting that if the world’s largest retailer were to tag at the item level, more that 7 million terabytes of data would be created in a single day – more than what can be handled by networks today. Crawford sees this data management issue as the greatest challenge to overcome for item-level RFID tagging, rather than current tag costs. However, he reiterated, “Current thinking about the penny tag blinds retailers and manufacturers to the real, tangible benefits of nearer-term RFID solutions.”

Crawford’s sentiments were echoed by his counterpart in the RFID World Crossfire Presentation, Jim Ferguson, VP of U.S. Business Development for Innovision Research & Technology. “There are a wealth of opportunities out there [for RFID],” Ferguson said. “You need senior level commitment because it’s a major strategic move to adopt RFID,” he continued. Ferguson also indicated that companies should not think solely about the cost of an RFID solution, but instead should consider RFID as a component of a broader technology investment and solution. Most importantly, he urged companies to work directly with potential customer’s senior management to determine if there is a technology path and a cost-point for an RFID-based solution. “It’s not the cost of the chip, it’s the value brought back,” said Ferguson.

System developers, vendors, and end-users may have come to RFID World with a “wait-and-see” attitude, but the general feeling at the show was quite the opposite. In his keynote speech “Get Ready, Get Going: Making the Business Case for RFID,” David Slinger, VP of Texas Instruments noted that real ROI is not measured against a return on the expense and investment – instead it should be measured against how fast a company gains strategic or competitive value. The key areas of real ROI for RFID, according to Slinger, include reducing risk, recapturing time and building productivity, harnessing information and gaining that competitive edge.

Central to Slinger’s message, and an overarching theme of the conference, was that RFID is the core enabling technology that is changing the way companies do business, creating new markets (such as wireless payments), and providing business and revenue opportunities today. Nearly than 500 participants attended the first annual RFID World Conference & Exhibition, May 13-14, 2003 at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. RFID World 2004 will be held in Dallas, Texas in April.

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