In this issue:

• TI-RFid Signs OEM Agreement With Open Options
• TI-RFid Systems and Emerging Foundations Showcase Smarter Asset Tracking Solution at the World Workplace Expo
• RFID Will Play a Critical Role in Healthcare: How Will Your Organization Benefit?
• TI-RFid eStore Back Online

Partner Profile:

• Applied Wireless Identifications Group, Inc. (AWID)

Feature of the Month:

• The Excitement Building to a Loud Crescendo

TI-RFid Signs OEM Agreement With Open Options
Texas Instruments RFid Systems announced that Carrollton, Texas-based Open Options Inc., will resell TI’s line of 13.56 MHz contactless RFID vicinity cards and readers for access control applications.

Open Options will offer TI-RFid cards and readers as part of its line of access control products, which includes its NPower DNA™ security management software. The NPower DNA open software system runs on a Microsoft platform and can be scaled to answer specific customer needs such as integrating human resources, IT and contractor databases into one cohesive system. Among its many features, the software can monitor alarms, trace an individual’s card usage, and monitor and assign access to specific doors throughout a facility.

“Our agreement with TI allows us to offer our growing array of customers a customizable RFID-based access control solution with many more features at a price that’s comparable to traditional proximity solutions,” said Brent Doherty, product manager, Open Options Inc.

For more information on Open Options’ access control offerings visit www.openoptionsinc.com, or call 1-877-818-7001.

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TI-RFid Systems and Emerging Foundations Showcase Smarter Asset Tracking Solution at the World Workplace Expo
TI-RFid Systems showcased a smarter way for facilities managers to more accurately keep track of high-value assets and equipment, confidential documents and hazardous materials at the International Facility Manager Association’s World Workplace Expo, October 19-21 in Dallas, Texas. TI-RFid Systems and Emerging Foundations, Inc., a facilities software and systems integration consulting company based in Dallas, Texas, demonstrated an integrated facilities and asset management solution featuring TI’s 13.56 MHz, ISO 15693 smart labels and the S6500 Long Range Reader/Antenna, along with Emerging Foundations’ Logistical Tracking System (LTS) Web-based application software suite.

Using TI-RFid smart labels for asset tracking allows corporations, educational and government institutions, and healthcare facilities to more efficiently manage inventory, track items for maintenance, prevent theft and cost-effectively deploy assets throughout their organization. Applications that can benefit from RFID’s automated tracking capabilities include public universities that must comply with audit requirements of their assets, corporations and military users tracking high-value electronic equipment, healthcare facilities tracking pharmaceuticals and equipment, as well as facilities handling hazardous waste that must meet OSHA regulations.

Emerging Foundations is developing an RFID Manager application to aid with business rules configuration and management of RFID readers and data, and showed a prototype at the Expo. The company will also provide future support to its LTS suite for RFID-enabled time tracking for completion of work orders, and integration with access control systems for personnel identification.

For more information, contact Emerging Foundations at 1-214-734-3130, or visit www.emergingfoundations.com

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RFID Will Play a Critical Role in Healthcare: How Will Your Organization Benefit?
RFID is poised to change dramatically how patients are cared for, and in the process, may save tens of thousands of lives a year. RFID will play a critical role in remote monitoring, digital patient records, patient tracking, asset tracking, medication tracking and transfusion safety.

Attend the conference, RFID in Healthcare, December 2 & 3, in Washington DC, to detail the business case, integration challenges and Return on Investment of RFID in the hospital, healthcare supply chain, and in healthcare information management systems.

Bill Allen, marketing communications manager, TI-RFid Systems will be presenting an introductory course on Tuesday, December 2 at 9:45 am titled “RFID 101: Tags, Readers & Types That Comprise the RFID Solution.” TI will also be exhibiting its range of RFID products for healthcare applications.

For more information and to register go to: http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/rfidhc
or call 800.608.9641 ext. 224.

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TI-RFid eStore Back Online
Engineers and systems integrators can once again get sample quantities of Texas Instruments RFid products for small-scale pilots on the TI-RFid Systems eStore. Digi-Key Corporation of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, a top-rated distributor of electronic components worldwide and a TI-RFid Systems authorized distributor, is the new supplier fulfilling U.S-based and international customer orders placed on the eStore. Nearly 50 TI-RFid items are available including tags, readers, antennas, and power supplies. Featured items include two, low-cost evaluation kits: the Low-Frequency Micro-Evaluation Kit and the HF-I Midrange Evaluation Kit, which is compatible with the worldwide ISO 15693 standard for 13.56 MHz vicinity cards and smart label inlays.

The direct link to the TI-RFid eStore is http://www.secureorderprocess.com/ti/products.asp or access it through the TI-RFid Systems Web site at www.ti-rfid.com

Quantity-based pricing of TI-RFid products is available from authorized distributors. Click the following link for a list of TI-RFid distributors worldwide: http://www.ti.com/tiris/docs/customerService/distributors.shtml

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Partner Profile: Applied Wireless Identifications Group, Inc. (AWID)

AWID Introduces New PC Card Reader

The most recent addition to the AWID reader product line is the PC Card multi-protocol reader (PCMCIA card) for 13.56 MHz, which is designed to be integrated into any third-party handheld, notebook or tablet computer to read and write most leading smart labels, including Texas Instruments’ Tag-it™. The PC Card readers are available with a built-in extended antenna or alternately, with an external antenna. Both feature anti-collision algorithms to enable customers to read/write multiple labels at the same time, and are ideally suited for supply chain item tracking and asset management applications in a mobile environment. The flexibility of the AWID PC Card RFID readers allows customers to easily integrate RFID into many existing mobile data collection terminals and can be integrated with other technologies such as barcodes or wireless LANs.

The AWID Multi-Protocol RFID (MPR) family consists of readers that lead the industry in protocol capacity, circuit miniaturization and design flexibility. The company has developed handheld, fixed-site and portal readers for its OEM and AIDC (automatic identification & data collection) customers. It designs solutions capable of reading 13.56 MHz and 915/2450 MHz technologies (and compatible with both EPC Class 1 and Class 0 in the UHF frequency bands).

For more information on the new PC Card reader and AWID’s complete product line, please visit the company’s Web site at www.awid.com.

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Feature: The Excitement Building to a Loud Crescendo

By Bill Allen, Marketing Communications Manager, TI-RFid Systems

This is perhaps the most exciting, dynamic time in the history of RFID. Mainstream news media are covering the RFID market like never before. Major corporations like Wal-Mart are endorsing the technology. Then there's the Department of Defense announcing its adoption of RFID. It's all coming to a loud crescendo of activity and attention surrounding RFID.

Fifteen years ago, a small business segment within Texas Instruments identified the potential of this "new" identification technology and decided to go to market with some new products. Within this fifteen-year window, TI's RFID business segment has seen steady activity and growth for this burgeoning market. It hasn't been easy at times as the capabilities and limitations of this technology were being defined, tested and proven.

First, there was low frequency technology that held great promise. TI and its customers were pushing the envelope of performance, but cost seemed to be a factor as more and more customers saw the potential uses of RFID. If only a low cost transponder could be developed, the full potential would surely be realized. Then came high frequency technology that changed the dynamic - low-cost "smart labels" were the newcomer to the market. Applications spread, the industry grew, but RFID still did not achieve that critical mass adoption stage. There were additional opportunities because customers wanted longer read range and higher data transfer rates. Thus, RFID technologists looked for a new frequency that offered these capabilities. Voila, then came UHF.

UHF holds great promise for the RFID market, and TI has been involved in testing and piloting this "new" technology since 1999. TI-RFid is firmly committed to the further development of UHF and sees a very bright future. But there's still work to be done from both a technology standpoint and a standards perspective. Consistent and accurate performance is a MUST for commercial adoption, and, as an industry, we WILL get there with UHF.

So, here we are fifteen years and some 300 million transponders later for TI. It seems as though we have been pushing a snowball up the hill at times. The snowball has picked up some size, but as it gets bigger, it gets harder to move up the hill. As an industry, we needed some help in getting the snowball to the top of the hill so it could gain some momentum and size. We got that help with the Wal-Mart and DoD announcements. Now, the snowball is perched at the top of the hill, ready to go over the top. The critical mass is now about to go rolling downhill. The size and momentum will increase rapidly. And the identification market will have changed forever. And the way businesses conduct business will change forever.

RFID has been identified by Fast Company magazine as one of five technologies that will change the world. Get ready for that change, because the loud crescendo you hear building in the background is that snowball rolling down the hill.

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