Post by Watchman on Dec 19, 2005 13:20:05 GMT -5
Auto ID, RFID, and Mobility progress from implementation to integration in 2006
Monday, December 19 2005
By Daniel P. Mullen, President, AIM Global
The big news in the automatic identification and mobility industry in 2005 was "implementation." Companies worked to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) to comply, or prepare for compliance, with retail and government mandates. In 2006, the big news will be "integration."
In 2005, leading companies learned how to use RFID, first to label often problematic shipping containers and second to enhance their internal operations. These lessons will be more widely shared in the coming year to help other companies begin to benefit from RFID.
More importantly, however, AIM Global believes that 2006 will be the year that leading companies more fully recognize that RFID is one tool in a versatile toolkit of technologies. RFID, bar codes, biometrics, card technologies, mobile computing--all will be more fully integrated to leverage and capture the overall benefits to provide the most cost-effective and efficient systems.
AIM Global is committed to supporting the development of implementation guidance necessary to ease adoption. Our RFID Experts Group, for example, is developing a Technical Report on the use of bar codes to provide data backup for RFID tags.
As an industry specific example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has encouraged the pharmaceutical industry to explore the use of RFID on shipping containers and pallets to track and secure the pharmaceutical supply chain. Companies in the pharmaceutical supply chain are also exploring the use of RFID to support an electronic "pedigree" for all shipments of pharmaceuticals. At present, the FDA's Bar Code Rule goes into effect in 2006. This rule mandates a bar code on the "lowest unit of packaging" for pharmaceuticals to help prevent medication errors.
The integration of dependable, inexpensive bar codes on items that will routinely be handled by employees and RFID on larger containers that may be primarily handled by material handling equipment, demonstrates how companies are beginning to understand the creation of ROI through integration, not replacement.
Biometrics and card technologies are also coming more to the fore. Already laptop computers are being equipped with fingerprint ID (biometrics) for passwords. A secure USB drive is also available with fingerprint ID for security.
Even as technology moves forward, concerns about data security and privacy are also becoming more important. The use of encryption, biometrics, authentication and careful implementation to ensure the integrity of data and the privacy of both corporate and individual users will also be a focus within the AIDC industry.
AIM Global, as the association representing Automatic Identification and Mobility, will spend significant resources in 2006 to address these areas and provide leadership to vendors and users of automatic identification, RFID and mobility.
<<<<Got Beast?- WS>>>>
Monday, December 19 2005
By Daniel P. Mullen, President, AIM Global
The big news in the automatic identification and mobility industry in 2005 was "implementation." Companies worked to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) to comply, or prepare for compliance, with retail and government mandates. In 2006, the big news will be "integration."
In 2005, leading companies learned how to use RFID, first to label often problematic shipping containers and second to enhance their internal operations. These lessons will be more widely shared in the coming year to help other companies begin to benefit from RFID.
More importantly, however, AIM Global believes that 2006 will be the year that leading companies more fully recognize that RFID is one tool in a versatile toolkit of technologies. RFID, bar codes, biometrics, card technologies, mobile computing--all will be more fully integrated to leverage and capture the overall benefits to provide the most cost-effective and efficient systems.
AIM Global is committed to supporting the development of implementation guidance necessary to ease adoption. Our RFID Experts Group, for example, is developing a Technical Report on the use of bar codes to provide data backup for RFID tags.
As an industry specific example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has encouraged the pharmaceutical industry to explore the use of RFID on shipping containers and pallets to track and secure the pharmaceutical supply chain. Companies in the pharmaceutical supply chain are also exploring the use of RFID to support an electronic "pedigree" for all shipments of pharmaceuticals. At present, the FDA's Bar Code Rule goes into effect in 2006. This rule mandates a bar code on the "lowest unit of packaging" for pharmaceuticals to help prevent medication errors.
The integration of dependable, inexpensive bar codes on items that will routinely be handled by employees and RFID on larger containers that may be primarily handled by material handling equipment, demonstrates how companies are beginning to understand the creation of ROI through integration, not replacement.
Biometrics and card technologies are also coming more to the fore. Already laptop computers are being equipped with fingerprint ID (biometrics) for passwords. A secure USB drive is also available with fingerprint ID for security.
Even as technology moves forward, concerns about data security and privacy are also becoming more important. The use of encryption, biometrics, authentication and careful implementation to ensure the integrity of data and the privacy of both corporate and individual users will also be a focus within the AIDC industry.
AIM Global, as the association representing Automatic Identification and Mobility, will spend significant resources in 2006 to address these areas and provide leadership to vendors and users of automatic identification, RFID and mobility.
<<<<Got Beast?- WS>>>>