Oct 26, 2009RFID software company Pramari has released an open-source middleware platform, the Rifidi Edge Server, that is free to download and use. The firm also offers support, consulting and training at a cost of approximately $5,000 for most small to midsize customers. Rifidi began beta testing the middleware on June 15 of this year, and released Version 1.0 on Oct. 26.
The Rifidi Edge Server middleware collects data from EPC Gen 2 RFID readers, filters that information and delivers it to systems that employ the data for business processes. The middleware works not only with RFID interrogators, but also with bar-code scanners, sensors and other hardware, such as cameras.
Fosstrak, an open-source RFID software platform that implements the EPC Network specifications, also includes middleware that performs similar functions. However, Rifidi Edge Server differs from Fosstrak's RFID middleware, says Brian Pause, Pramari's VP of product development, because the Edge Server utilizes Esper, a component of complex event processing (CEP) and event stream processing (ESP) applications, as its rules engine, thus enabling a user to include non-RFID devices on their system. The middleware also supports Web services, as well as EPCglobal's application-level events (ALE) standard, in its communication layer.
"Our focus," Pause says, "was to build a platform to be used by end users and enterprises for implementing RFID solutions in conjunction with other non-RFID devices, such as cameras and bar codes."
Purchasers of the one-year support contract receive an appliance known as the EdgeBox, which comes loaded with the Edge Server middleware. The EdgeBox, a 6-by-9-inch device with a Wi-Fi card and USB port to connect with a user's computer, provides ease of use because it eliminates the need to install Edge Server on a user's back-end system. RIFD hardware company AWID has partnered with Pramari to offer the software with low-cost support along with its own readers, Pause says, and other interrogator and tag manufacturers are considering doing the same.
The middleware is the result of a prototyping solution the company has been offering for approximately three years, says Prasith Govin, Pramari's CTO. The prototyping system emulates readers using software, and allows companies to walk through an RFID deployment in the software before investing in tags and interrogators (see SimCity for the RFID Crowd).
"Our goal with Rifidi," Govin explains, "was to build a comprehensive RFID platform that can join together RFID and non-RFID devices, and easily create business events from them. By building on an open platform, we are encouraging anyone to build any type of solution, and we will provide the tools and stable platform to make this happen."
Companies wishing to deploy an inexpensive RFID system can purchase RFID hardware, then download Rifidi Edge Server at no cost. The middleware operates on any computer running the Windows 7, XP or Vista, or Linux Ubuntu operating systems. Users can tailor the software to their particular needs by writing extensions and plug-ins to it. They are also encouraged to participate in an open-source community, to share information regarding deployments.
Rifidi Edge Server enables a user to control the configuration of EPC Gen 2 RFID interrogators, as well as collect and filter data received from those readers. Based on the OSGi and Java programming platforms, the Edge Server middleware has been tested with up to four RFID interrogators (though Pause says it could accommodate more than four), receiving reads at a rate of up to 1,000 tags per second. The box operates with any low-level reader protocol (LLRP) standard-compliant readers, including those manufactured by AWID, Alien Technology, ThingMagic and Motorola, such as the MC9090 handheld.
Users can download demo applications from Rifidi that illustrate how Edge Server works. They can also log onto the company's Web site to access an open community, in order to share information about how they utilize the system, as well as any issues they may have had—and solutions to those problems. Some of the information available to all users includes forums, blogs, wikis and documentation on how to use Rifidi Edge Server. In the future, there will also be a link to open forums shared by other technology providers. "We want people to build vertical solutions on top of our platform," Pause says, and to share the results with other end users who might wish to follow that model.
"Deployments are expensive," Pause states, and while hardware costs have been dropping, software costs have not. In this case, users can build their own business rules on the Rifidi Edge Server platform, such as setting up the system to send alerts if a tag is not read when expected.
AWID is partnering with Rifidi to offer its readers with the EdgeBox at a low cost. "We're a hardware-only company," says Bill Arnold, AWID's director of strategic sales, "but as the market has been expanding into everyday practice, we're finding more users who don't want to shop a lot of companies to make their system work. So it started to make a lot of sense to offer the Rifidi middleware to our customers."
Many of AWID's customers, Arnold says, are security integrators that install and program physical security systems for businesses. These integrators are often asked to provide an RFID asset-tracking system to a client's existing security system, such as a video camera network. The security integrators would provide them with both the hardware and software in a single, easy-to-install package, which would include AWID readers and Rifidi middleware to connect interrogators and other security technology. AWID's core company strategy, Arnold says, is to keep hardware costs low—and by partnering with Rifidi, the firm can offer a low-cost complete solution.
Tag reseller RFID TagSource has worked with Pramari for the past two years, Pause says, providing input from an end-user's perspective—based on what TagSource's customers tell it—regarding the Edge Server product. TagSource plans to offer the system to its RFID tag customers as a middleware option.
"The open-source model has been widely adopted by enterprise IT organizations," says Kevin Donahue, RFID TagSource's managing director. As open-source middleware supported by a broader open-source community (such as blogs and wikis), Rifidi Edge Server, he says, "demystifies the technology and should really drive adoption across the industry."
Pramari has also been working closely with General Electric Research and Development Center, a potential customer, in using the Rifidi platform (consisting of the middleware and the EdgeBox) to present and prototype RFID business solutions. Ultimately, Pause notes, the same prototyping platform used to demonstrate an RFID system's value can be employed to run GE's RFID business in production as middleware. Since General Electric is a multi-business growth company, he adds, the reuse of the same RFID platform across business lines adds value to the company by simplifying RFID projects and reducing costs.
