March 29, 2005
Maxell Introduces New RFID Solutions
-- Maxell Introduces New, Flexible RFID Platform For Use In Various Pharmaceutical, Clinical Trials and Laboratory Applications. Maxell's Heliport RFID System Provides the Foundation for Next-Generation Track and Trace and Information Management Solutions in Life Science Industries --
Fort Lawn, NJ, March 28, 2005 – Maxell Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Hitachi Maxell Ltd., today introduced the flagship product in the company's line of Radio Frequency IDentification solutions. Maxell's new RFID system provides original equipment manufacturers and system integrators in the medical, pharmaceutical and laboratory markets a flexible technology platform for the development of customizable and secure RFID solutions for a variety of high-value, life science applications.
Maxell's new RFID system, Heliport is comprised of an advanced RFID reader and RFID chip that is customized for individual applications. It allows information to be wirelessly transferred from a tag to a reader to enhance the ability of companies to track individual items. Maxell's Heliport RFID system will be utilized by pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials facilities and research laboratories to automate the clinical trial, drug development and research process and ensure advanced data management through the system's advanced reading/writing/storing functionality. The system ensures automatic, accurate and real-time information tracking and management and supports the chain of custody, quality control and data verification requirements that meet the anti-counterfeiting, consumer safety and regulatory compliance needs of the pharmaceutical industry and the need to lower error rates, improve processing costs and ensure regulatory compliance in the laboratory and clinical trials environments.
Maxell's Heliport is expected to accelerate the use of RFID in the pharmaceutical, clinical trials and laboratory markets, where its small size and writable memory are critical engineering considerations. Maxell's Heliport system ensures information captured by the RFID system is safe and secure, a critical mandate for industries tracking highly sensitive and valuable information and responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance.
"Pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials facilities and laboratory and research centers have each identified RFID as the next-generation automation, track and trace, and information management solution," said Jeff Giger, new business development manager at Maxell. "Maxell's Heliport system is the only RFID solution designed for small form factor applications and its proprietary design ensures the data stored, managed and tracked in the system is private and secure. Maxell is working with major life science facilities, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment suppliers to develop highly customized RFID systems based on the Heliport design for applications ranging from the advanced management of blood vials to the tracking of prescription bottles. We expect Heliport to advance the use of RFID by life science companies because the system is designed to meet their specific requirements."
Smart Medical Technologies, a medical device company based in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA has designed "smart test tube" system around Maxell's Heliport read/write technology. The company plans to introduce this system to the blood testing market later this year. "Maxell's RFID chip and reader has allowed Smart Medical Technologies to create a smart test tube system that acts as an interactive, high-capacity, next-generation barcode system," said Mehdi Hatamian, CEO of Smart Medical Technologies. "The ease of implementing the reader/writer technology into our single tube device creates a plug and play system ideal for independent laboratories. The RFID embedded test tube and reading device helps reduce errors that occur in all phases of blood test - from data input, test administration and re-testing of tubes. The system is expected to fully automate the laboratory process."
Key features and functions of Maxell's Heliport system include:
Flexible Customization: Maxell's small form factor RFID chips can be integrated into a wide variety of end-designs previously limited to manual barcode systems. Possible RFID-enabled end-systems include test and specimen tubes, specimen bottles and vials and prescription drug containers and bottles.
Multiple Applications: The Heliport systems is designed for multiple life science applications and can be used to track lot codes and expiration dates, store pedigree information, manage regulatory compliance data, track individual patient and specimen information and record events and transactions.
Readable/Writable Memory: The chips themselves can store high volumes of data, from 128 bytes to 4K bytes. Data on the chip can be read and written to ensure accurate and real-time specimen tracking.
Data Privacy and Security: Heliport is designed to provide the high levels of data privacy. Unlike other RFID systems that use public standards, Maxell's Heliport was designed with the security concerns of the life science market in mind, utilizing proprietary standards and secure authentication.
Advantages over Existing Systems: The system provides next-generation advantages over bar code devices. The coil-on-chip RFID architecture enables specimen tracking without line-of-sight requirements. Rugged packaging makes the chips and the data stored impervious to harsh environments, including extreme refrigeration. Maxell "coil on chip" RFID technology is impervious to the contamination, destruction and removal issues apparent in other systems.
Pricing and Availability
Engineering sample demo kits are currently available at $1500 per kit. Maxell is actively seeking integrator and OEM partners.
About Maxell Corporation of America
Maxell Corporation of America was founded in 1964 and is a subsidiary of Hitachi Maxell Ltd., a world leader in memory, storage and security technologies. The company is dedicated to advancing the ever-changing world of electronics by harnessing advancing technology to develop economical RFID solutions. As part of its mission to reinforce the areas of memory and mobility, Maxell supports the multimedia arena with a wide range of media products from DLT tape to CD and DVD disks. Maxell is also a leader in industrial batteries. For further information on Maxell RFID products, please contact Maxell Corporation of America at .
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