Aug 18, 2006The following are news announcements made during the week of August 14.
SmartCode Expanding Manufacturing With New Plant
RFID systems provider SmartCode says it has nearly completed a new manufacturing center in Chicago as part of the company's strategic expansion plan. The 30,000-square-foot facility will include a manufacturing plant and research-and-development center, as well as quality assurance and testing facilities. It will also include a distribution center for the firm, which maintains additional facilities in New York and Israel. SmartCode says the facility will produce EPC Gen 2 RFID tags that will be converted into labels for tracking pallets and cases, and for tracking individual items. The company anticipates that the manufacturing plant will be able to produce 10 billion RFID tags annually.
Dover to Acquire Label Applicator Co. Markem
New York-based Dover Corp., a diversified industrial manufacturer, plans to acquire RFID label-application solutions provider Markem. The privately held Markham is based in Keene, N.H., and employs more than 1,200 people worldwide. As part of the agreement, Markem will retain its company name, its Keene location and its current operational management. None of the financial details regarding the planned acquisition have yet been released. Markem president James Putnam, whose family founded the firm nearly 100 years ago, says Markem has been seeking a "strategy to best position Markem for the future," and that it hopes the acquisition will allow it to do so. Markem sells the Cimjet RFID tag encoder-applicator and CoLOS RFID software. The companies expect to complete the acquisition within 60 to 90 days. In January 2005, Dover purchased Datamax, a maker of RFID smart-label and bar-code printers (see Dover Technologies Acquires Datamax).
NFC Forum Issues First Four Specifications
The Near Field Communications Forum (NFC Forum), an association promoting the adoption of NFC technology, has published its first four RFID-tag air-interface standard specifications, which are available to the public for download, free of charge, at the NFC Forum Web site. The group first announced and described the standards in June (see NFC Forum Announces Technology Architecture). NFC technology enables RF communication between mobile electronic devices for applications such as payments or data exchange. The forum released the four specifications so electronics manufacturers can use them to create NFC-Forum-compliant devices that are interoperable with other manufacturers' devices and compatible with the NFC-enabled offerings of service providers, thus ensuring successful communication between devices and tags. The specifications describe a common tag-data format, record types (used in sending messages between NFC devices), plain-text exchange specifications for NFC devices and directions on how to link NFC devices to the Internet.
On the heels of the NFC Forum's specifications announcement, Innovision Research & Technology, a developer of NFC and short-range RFID solutions, has released a new 12-page white paper called "NFC in the Real World: Turning the NFC Promise into Profitable Everyday Applications." This white paper addresses the use of near-field communications in a business context and focuses on three applications. The first of these is using an NFC device to read an RFID tag embedded in an object, such as a smart poster. The second is using NFC to enable communication between two devices, such as a mobile phone, laptop, printer or set-top box. The third is using NFC for payments or ticketing applications. The paper predicts that initial NFC applications will build on existing communications infrastructure and exploit existing user behavior. Readers can request a free copy of the white paper by e-mailing
enquiries@innovision-group.com.
ODIN Offering Global Tag-Testing Software
RFID systems integrator ODIN Technologies has released an international version of its EasyTag tag-testing software. This new version can be used for RFID deployments in Europe (under ETSI regulations) and in Japan, where regulations regarding UHF spectrum use and acceptable radiating-power levels vary from those of the United States. EasyTag software uses a set of metrics to measure how well a tag attached to a product (or case of products) performs at various interrogation power levels and at various distances from the interrogator. It also measures how changes in a product's orientation to the interrogator impacts a tag's readability. The software uses a graphical representation of each interrogation test to show the strength or weakness of the communication link between the tag and interrogator. The first release of the software functioned only within FCC regulations for UHF RFID used in the United States. The international version works under FCC rules, as well as under Europe's ETSI regulations (which allow RFID devices to function only between 865 and 868 MHz) and under Japan's regulation, which permits UHF RFID between 950 MHz to 956 MHz. This new version allows end users shipping products internationally to test how well various tags will perform within all three regulatory schemes. Hewlett-Packard (HP), in partnership with IDEC Controls, Toyo Kanetsu Solutions and WL Solutions, have installed the international EasyTag software at HP's Noisy Lab, a testing facility subject to RF interference, meant to mimic real-world industrial environments to determine tag optimal UHF tag placement on items in Japan.
Small-Business Credit Cards Get RFID'ed
Small-business credit-card issuer Advanta says it will make available its MasterCard-branded small-business credit cards with MasterCard PayPass-embedded RFID inlays starting in September. MasterCard says Advanta's will be the first small-business credit card equipped with PayPass technology. PayPass enables a cardholder to complete transactions by waving the card in front of RFID-enabled payment terminals at select retailers. American Express already embeds its ExpressPay RFID tags into its full line of Blue cards, including its two Blue cards for business.
