Apr 06, 2023RFID Journal LIVE! 2023 will feature end-user companies discussing RFID's use in various industries, as well as exhibitors offering tagging solutions for multiple applications. To learn more, visit the event's website.
Presented here are recent news announcements in the radio frequency identification and Internet of Things industries.
Semnox Solutions Receives U.S. Patent for RFID Roaming Tag
Semnox Solutions, a provider of holistic technology solutions for the entertainment and leisure industries, has been granted a U.S. patent for its RFID Tag Roaming solution, designed to improve guest experiences for venue operators with two or more locations. "We are excited to announce our RFID Tag Roaming solutions," said Iqbal Mohammad, Semonx's chief architect of roaming solutions, in a prepared statement, "which provides an innovative approach to offering a seamless experience across all stores for multi-store amusement operators."
With Semnox's solution, customers can employ a single user profile or account for venues with multiple stores. This, the company explains, ensures that they can use their entitlements, card balances, loyalty points and membership benefits across all brands and stores, while accumulating redemption points. "Our solution provides immense power to multi-store operations," Mohammad said in the statement, "by creating a virtual cloud environment wherein the businesses are not risking connectivity issues that disrupt their operations."
Chris King, the president of the Monster Mini Golf chain of family entertainment centers, said in the statement, "Our operators were using several POS systems, as well as various third-party applications, to operate their locations. This was a barrier to effective management and analysis of our business, as we had no unification or top-level transparency. The Semnox system provided an all-in-one system that brought us all together, as well as incorporated new tools such as online booking, reservations and e-commerce."
The solution uses a software-only approach that synchronizes a local activity with a cloud database, which is then accessible to other stores in real time. The on-demand capability of the solution provides just-in-time roaming when required, Semnox reports. "This approach eliminates the need for expensive hardware and database software feature costs, reducing the total cost of ownership," Mohammad said in the prepared statement. "The solution is scalable and can be used in small-band stores or corporations with hundreds of stores."
Stores can be zoned into auto-roam clusters, creating region-based zones where roaming activity is more frequent. With synchronization activity restricted to set zone levels, Semonx explains, information is made available to all stores within the zone, while saving on network bandwidth and storage. The solution's ability for two-way synchronization between the cloud and stores gives corporations more control over operations from their headquarters, the company indicates.
"We needed something that gave us all the functionality within the industry that was tailor-made to us from party booking to game card system interactions and redemption points, and loyalty programs," said Mike Abecassis, the owner of multi-unit entertainment venue GameTime, in the statement. "Semnox was the only solution that's really covered every piece of that without having to integrate other software."
Beontag Among Financial Times' Fastest-Growing Companies
Beontag, a manufacturer of self-adhesives and smart tags, has made the "Americas' Fastest-Growing Companies" list, moving up 54 places in this year's rankings. Beontag is fast becoming a major player in the RFID industry (see Label Company Beontag RFID Acquires Confidex, Beontag RFID's VP Reveals the Firm's Global Strategies, Beontag Plans New U.S. Factory with Sustainability and Beontag Acquires Adhesive Company Technicote).
The "Americas' Fastest Growing Companies" ranking lists the top 500 companies in the Americas that have achieved the highest compound annual growth in revenues between 2018 and 2021. The awards are presented by the Financial Times and statistics portal and industry-ranking provider Statista Inc. Data was collected via desk research in official sources like publicly available earning presentations, investor relations, websites and annual reports. More than 7,000 public companies throughout 20 countries were examined.
"It's always nice to have our rapid growth recognized in such a list, but I'm most proud of the measured and purposeful way we have undertaken this growth," said Ricardo Lobo, Beontag's chief executive officer, in a prepared statement. "Our focus on diversification, R&D and digital innovation takes us beyond just 'one of the largest RFID tag manufacturers in the world' to a truly global solutions provider for an increasingly diverse set of industries, from retail, fashion and apparel to transportation and smart cities."
Soracom Adds Industrial SIM to Internet of Things Portfolio
Soracom, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, has added an industrial-grade subscriber identity module (SIM) card to its portfolio of IoT SIM and eSIM solutions. Soracom now offers both standard and industrial-grade eSIMs and SIM cards, as well as iSIM capability. The Soracom Industrial SIM card is designed for M2M/IoT applications for which environmental conditions require a rugged solution, the company reports, and for which a card-type SIM is preferable to an eSIM.
According to Soracom, the Industrial SIM supports Mini, Micro or Nano form factors (2FF, 3FF or 4FF) and offers a special coating and enhanced chip characteristics to limit erosion and resist extremes of temperature, humidity and vibration. The card is compatible with current GSMA M2M eUICC specifications and provides pay-per-use cellular data, including 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE and Cat-M1 coverage in more than 160 countries. Access to Soracom's connectivity-management platform and application programming interface is included, along with a library of cloud-native platform services designed to accelerate IoT deployments.
"Feed manufacturers across North America trust BinSentry to monitor thousands of feed bins, automate inventory and improve decision making," said Nathan Hoel, BinSentry's CTO and co-founder, in a prepared statement. "In these rugged environments, our gear faces rapid temperature changes and constant dust and vibration. We have tried many IoT SIM cards, and if it can't resist failure in these conditions, we can't use it. Soracom's Industrial SIM delivers a connection we can count on, and Soracom's smart lifecycle management allows us to optimize our network for performance and cost."
Kenta Yasukawa, Soracom's CTO and co-founder, added in the statement, "Every day, we help customers around the world and across industries offload heavy lifting to the cloud on terms that make sense for IoT. An industrial-grade SIM card with eUICC capabilities complements our Industrial IoT eSIM offerings and lets our customers deploy connected solutions seamlessly in challenging environments, ensuring optimal form factors and maximum durability tailored to their use cases."
RAIN Alliance Elects Board of Directors
The RAIN Alliance has announced the reelection of three members of its Board of Directors: Jonathan Aitken, the director of RFID and digital partnerships at Avery Dennison; Ralf Kodritsch, the segment manager of RAIN RFID solutions at NXP Semiconductors; and Juho Partanen, the director of business development and co-founder of Voyantic. Pierre Muller, the RFID BU manager at EM Microelectronic-Marin, has been newly elected to the Board as well. RAIN is a brand name for passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technologies.
Left to right: Jonathan Aitken, Ralf Kodritsch, Juho Partanen and Pierre Muller
According to the Alliance, Muller ran for a Board seat to help the organization support semiconductor availability for the industry, and to position UHF RFID as the technology of choice for the European Union's Digital Product Passport and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Drugs Supply Chain Security Act applications. Aitken, Kodritsch, Partanen and Muller will join Chris Diorio, the CEO of Impinj; Herve D'Halluin, Decathlon's RFID united leader and IoT referent; and Lewis Lin, the CEO and vice chairman of Arizon RFID Technology, all of whom were elected to the Board last year.
"I look forward to continuing to work with all of our directors to further the RAIN Alliance mission: creating a smarter and more sustainable world for everyone on the planet," said Aileen Ryan, the organization's president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "Collaborating with our committed membership, we will continue to drive awareness and foster market adoption of RAIN RFID technology and support the development of the RAIN ecosystem." Ryan was hired to direct the activities of the 160-member industry association.
"Our vision is of everything in the world becoming RAIN-enabled, improving people's lives and creating a sustainable future for our planet," Aitken, who served as the organization's treasurer for the past two years, added in the statement. "We have much more work to do, and I want to continue making the same great pace of progress as we have in the last twelve months."
