Real Issues

Here's a sampling of some of the Real Issues sessions at LIVE! '05:

The State of EPC Adoption
The Electronic Product Code has gained a foothold in the retail and consumer packaged goods industries. But EPC is not just about CPG. The technology has implications for many other industries and its adoption will cross many industries.
Speaker:
Mike Meranda, President, EPCglobal US

Can RFID Reduce Out-of-Stocks?
Products are not on the shelves when customers want to buy them as much as 8 percent of the time. RFID's great promise in the retail industry is that it can reduce out-of-stocks and simultaneously allow retailers to reduce inventory. But can this goal really be achieved? A panel of early retail adopters debates the issue.
Panelists:
Bill C. Hardgrave, Ph.D., Director, RFID Research Center, University of Arkansas
Milan Turk, Director, Global Customer eBusiness, Procter & Gamble
Moderator:
Jonathan Collins, Senior Editor, RFID Journal

RFID: The Importance of Privacy
Legislators around the country are scrutinizing RFID and some say they need to step forward now to regulate the technology. Consumer advocates warn that RFID could mean the death of privacy. What should companies do to protect the privacy rights of their customers as they deploy RFID? Can RFID implementers, privacy advocates and government find a solution that will satisfy everyone?
Panelists:
Elizabeth Board, Executive Director, EPC Public Policy Steering Committee, EPCglobal
Sandy Hughes, Global Privacy Executive, Procter & Gamble
Cédric Laurant, Policy Counsel, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

Compliance vs. Internal Benefits
Manufacturers are struggling to meet RFID tagging mandates from major retailers, such as Metro, Target, Tesco and Wal-Mart, as well as from Airbus and Boeing, and the U.S. Department of Defense. How do they save money internally to offset the cost of compliance?
Panelists:
Mike Bargmann, Senior Vice President and Chief Logistics Officer, Wegmans Food Markets
Gary Cooper, Chief Technology Officer, Tyson Foods
Mark Engle, Senior Director IT, Campbell USA
Ed Matthews, Director Information Systems, Pacific Cycle
Moderator:
Ed Hess, Executive Editor, Integrated Solutions

Future Trends: RFID 5 Years Out
How will RFID evolve over time? What will tag costs be in 2010? What types of data will companies be gathering and what kind of middleware and enterprise applications will they be using to track goods? Our panel of experts shares their insights into the future of RFID technologies.
Panelists:
Loek D'Hont, Chief Technology Officer, Sirit Technologies
Edward Gonsalves, Business Development Manager, Identification, Philips Semiconductors
David Meany, Executive Advisor, Retail Practice Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems
Tom Pounds, Vice President Corporate Development, Alien Technology
Moderator:
Christine Spivey Overby, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research

RFID Standards Update
ISO and EPCglobal continue to move towards creating global standards for UHF RFID systems. Where do the two organizations stand? Will EPC Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6 merge to create a single, global standard? Or will there be two separate systems? This session aims to sort out conflicting news reports on the topic.
Speaker:
Leigh Turner, Principal Scientist, UPM Rafsec

Managing RFID Data
RFID systems will provide a wealth of real-time data. This session focuses on smart strategies for filtering that data and turning it into information that business managers can act on to improve the way companies do business.
Panelists:
Jonathan Golovin, Ph.D., CEO, T3Ci
Martyn Mallick, Product Manager, iAnywhere Solutions
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Principal Architect - RFID, Infosys Technologies
Chris Stephenson, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Alliances, Savi
Moderator:
Marco Ziegler, Partner, Accenture

EPC Tag Performance
Which EPC tags perform well on liquid products? Which work best with canned goods and other products with metal packaging? And which are ideal for "RF friendly" products. This report from the RFID Alliance Lab at University of Kansas, provides objective benchmarking data.
Speaker:
Daniel Deavours, Director of Research, RFID Alliance Lab, University of Kansas

Value, Volume and a New Vision of the UHF Gen 2 Supply Chain
How will advanced silicon process technology, standard strap and antenna designs and high speed, high volume label production processes drive improved yields and scalability for new RFID Gen 2 tag products? Learn how the market is driving value, volume and a new vision of EPC Gen 2 chips, straps and inlays throughout the RFID value chain that promises victory for companies applying new Gen 2 technology.
Speaker:
Bill Allen, UHF Channel Strategy Manager, Texas Instruments
Sponsored by Texas Instruments

Sharing EPC Data
The Auto-ID Lab has set up a special interest group to develop standards for sharing EPC data among many supply chain partners over the Internet. Members of the SIG explain the need for data sharing standards, detail the progress they've made so far and talk about the next steps needed to achieve a global EPC data-sharing architecture.
Panelists:
Kiran Dandekar, Director of EPC Product Development, VeriSign
Stephen Miles, Team Leader, Web Services WAN SIG, Auto-ID Labs, MIT

Closing Keynote: RFID and the Future of Business
World renowned futurist Paul Saffo explains how RFID fits into the general trend of computers sensing, managing and responding to real world events.
Speaker:
Paul Saffo, Research Director, Institute for the Future