IAnywhere beefs up RFID software
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(InfoWorld) - IAnywhere SolutionsÂ is adding location tracking capabilities and support for a wider range of sensor technologies in RFID Anywhere 3.0, the latest version of its sensor management software announced on Monday. The previous versions of RFID Anywhere allowed customers to collect data from RFID (radio frequency identification) tags, create reports with that data and integrate the data with other enterprise applications. With the latest version of the software platform, companies can collect more data including location and environmental information from a variety of technologies including active RFID, passive RFID, RTLS (Real Time Location System) and barcode into a single reporting and tracking system. Previously, customers using a variety of sensor and tracking mechanisms would use separate management software tools to monitor each technology, said Martyn Mallick, director of RFID and mobile solutions for iAnywhere. Passive RFID is theÂ technology used by Wal-Mart StoresÂ and other retailers to track products or pallets of products as they move through the distribution system. Active RFID chips can hold more data and can be read from a greater distance. RTLS is used primarily to track and find items, such as computers or medical equipment. RTLS sensors often communicate with Wi-Fi networks. RFID Anywhere 3.0 users can also collect environmental data. Some active RFID tags now include light, temperature and humidity sensors, Mallick said. By collecting that data along with tracking and location information, users can make better business decisions, he said. For example, a produce shipper can decide to send a load of lettuce that has been exposed to above-optimum temperatures to a local retailer where it can be bought and consumed quickly, rather than send it across the country, potentially taking days for it to reach store shelves. RFID Anywhere 3.0 is integrated with existing RTLS location and active RFID systems, collecting data from software from Ekahau, AeroScout, RF Code, and others. Collecting information from thousands of tags can produce an overwhelming amount of data, but RFID Anywhere allows users to set parameters to help control the flow. "The most important thing we recommend really to customers is that not all the data is valuable," Mallick said. "Typically 75 percent to 80 percent of data can be filtered out because it's not of value." Some data may only be useful for one or two days, after which it can be deleted. Other data doesn't actually need to be collected. For example, if a product is sitting on a shelf, its sensor doesn't need to repeatedly send data saying that it hasn't moved. The sensor reader can instead be programmed only to send data once the product moves, he said. RFID Anywhere 3.0 will become available later this month. Customers can deploy the software in as many sites as they want, paying based on how many data collection devices are connected to the network.
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AeroScout lands new backers for its work with active radio frequency identification tags that make use of Wi-Fi networks.
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BALTIMORE--Radio frequency identification may be a hot topic among tech types these days, but proponents of the technology gathered here this week are keeping their exuberance in check.
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Researchers are developing an RFID-enabled watch system to help the memory-challenged find their stuff. But making sure it doesn't track too much is a big privacy concern. By Michael Bradbury.
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RFID tags, the dime-sized devices that can track inventory from the factory to the store, are being embraced as one of the hottest of new technologies. But Patrick J. Sweeney II likens most available applications of RFID, or radio frequency identification, to the user-unfriendly personal computers of the 1980s: a blank screen and a command prompt.
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roundupThere's no question retailers love RFID. But will problems of privacy and unreliability prove to be too great?
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is adding capabilities for RFID and EDI to its BizTalk Server business process management platform as well as making BizTalk friendlier for application developers. Being released Monday, BizTalk Server 2006 R2 adds a device abstraction layer enabling it to record information from RFID systems. Relevant RFID reads are connected to core supply chain processes or enterprise applications. Business rules can be applied to the data coming from the RFID readers. "This is the first time that we've shipped any RFID technology from Microsoft," Burley Kawasaki, director in the Microsoft Connected Systems Division, said. BizTalk Server enables exchanging of business processes. "It's all about connecting your systems regardless of the age, protocol, or vendor," Kawasaki said. Microsoft is maintaining the BizTalk Server 2006 nomenclature in the upgrade to send the message that upgrading is easy, according to Kawasaki. Also featured in R2 is out-of-the-box support for business-to-business integration standards, including EDI, the HIPAA and HL7 standards for health care, and SWIFT for financial trading. Pre-built classes and schemas are featured with users able to integrate BizTalk Server with partners' systems compliant with these standards. Real-time visibility is provided into supply chain operations. "With the R2 release, we're including these [standards] just out-of-the-box," said Kawasaki. Adding EDI support helps users, an analyst said. "One of the big [features in the release] is the increased EDI capability, which customers will now be able to get from a single vendor instead of having to go to multiple vendors," said Ken Vollmer, principal analyst at Forrester. "I think that's a smart move." EDI basically runs industries like retail and health care, Vollmer said. For developers, Microsoft is linking parts of the .Net Framework -- the ECF (Windows Communication Foundation) and Windows Workflow Foundation -- to BizTalk Server, enabling developers to develop composite applications, such as a front-end system that brings data from multiple back-end systems. "Probably the most notable part of R2 is that it provides seven adapters and wizards that enable easy communication to and from BizTalk Server and Web services-based applications via WCF," Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink, said. "This means that they are pulling it into their Web services infrastructure and unifying a larger part of their platform." With the product introduction, Microsoft is releasing BizTalk Server Branch Edition, which creates a hub-and-spokes model in which a branch location can automate event collection in real-time and send key information back to the central BizTalk Server hub. Also part of the rollout is a Beta 2 of the planned BizTalk Server Adapter Pack. This serves as an abbreviated version of BizTalk Server providing for point-to-point integration between applications. Initial systems supported are SAP and Siebel applications as well as the Oracle database. Adapters are scheduled to be available in the first half of 2008. In the interoperability space, Microsoft is bolstering interoperability with mainframe and IBM AS/400 midrange systems by including capabilities of the company's Host Integration Server software within BizTalk Server. Host Integration Server is being discontinued as a separate product. "You now get that capability as part of BizTalk Server," Kawasaki said. Microsoft also is releasing version 1 of its Enterprise Service Bus Guidance manual. "Our customers have been using BizTalk and .Net for many years to build ESB architectures," Kawasaki said. The free manual features pre-built code as well as guidance, patterns and practices. It can be downloaded off the company's CodePlex site. While some companies like Progress Sonic view an ESB as a specific product category, Microsoft sees ESB as an architectural model for connecting systems together using a bus. The Enterprise Edition of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is priced at $34,999 per processor. The Branch Edition costs $1,799 per processor.
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Sun, an early leader in support of RFID, announced today the creation of a retail compliance test center that will simulate a Wal-Mart distribution center in order to evaluate RFID tag compliance for vendors.
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Ziff Davis - Its next test center will be in Scotland, the company said at EPGglobal, where it also announced its first RFID toolkit and an RFID warehouse management solution.
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MARKHAM, Ont., Sept. 16 - IBM Canada has announced a suite of services to speed the benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems to industrial companies and mid-market businesses.
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Radio frequency identification tags contain more information than standard bar codes and several hundred can be scanned at once.
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RFID vendor Infineon uses SAP&#39;s NetWeaver platform to help companies better connect and manage RFID systems from diverse suppliers.
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This company has just started using some new RF guns in its warehouse. Workers use the handheld terminals to scan RFID tags on the conveyor -- or at least they're supposed to.
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A Caltech spinoff's new programming language could make it easier for software to digest RFID data and look for security breaches.
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DECEMBER 16, 2004  - IBM today unveiled new software to help companies integrate radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities into their IT systems, including a new server application that brings RFID benefits to existing IBM point-of
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German business software vendor SAP AG and chip maker Infineon Technologies AG have launched a new software management system for connecting RFID (radio frequency identification) hardware and software from multiple vendors, the companies announced Tuesday.
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The RFID platform is based on SAP's NetWeaver integration and application server middleware, including the software vendor's Auto-ID Infrastructure and SAP Event Management applications, and on Infineon's You-R ...