RFID Gazette

This is a roundup of recent RFID news and views.

The ROI of RFID
While many small vendors cannot use the volume of RFID tags to make the ROI (Return on Investment) worthwhile, some companies are finding it. A trailer dealership near Toronto, Canada is using RFID to manage over a 1,000 trailers in four lots and claims they've had a return on their investment since the installation last September. [via RFID Journal]

RightTag Acquired
RightTag, an RFID equipment manufacturer, has just been acquired by Inova Technology. RightTag were the first company in the RFID industry to manufacture a 13.56 Mhz Bluetooth-enabled scanner.

NCR Division Acquired
NCR's Systemedia Division's RFID assets have been acquired by The Kennedy Group, who provide RFID labels, packaging and other products. [via RFID Update]

This is a roundup of recent RFID-related news and views.

Tracking Steel
ThyssenKrupp Steel has managed to run a successful test on a thousand tagged steel slabs using EPC UHF RFID tags. The slabs were shipped from Brazil to Germany and tracked along that route. As a result, they'll continue the process for 100,000 slabs per year, maybe more, using special SATO FlagTag RFID labels. [via RFID Journal]

A Japanese RFID Island
Depending on what country you're in, RFID tags are an everyday thing or their not. In Japan, there's a plan to set up a special tech zone on an island where RFID tags will be ubiquitous. Not only that, they'll use the zone to monitor elderly patients, the movement of pedestrians, and more.

Passive RFID Tag Market Growing
The passive RFID tag market is to nearly US$500M by 2013, compared to just under $125M in 2006. This information comes courtesy of a Frost & Sullivan report.

Yet More Anti-RFID Envelope Makers
National Envelope Corporation is the latest company to go after the potentially lucrative anti-RFID envelope and wallet market with their Smart Card Guard products. The envelopes can be used to protect contactless credit cards, ID cards, and e-passports. [via Contactless News]

A Smart RFID Mirror
Paxar is currently showing off its smart mirror at a show in Miami, Florida. The mirror, typically to be used in retail clothing stores, gives customers information about a tagged item of clothing. [via RFID Update]

Free RFID Discovery Service
Affilias is offering a service to companies that want to share RFID EPC data over the Internet. What information is to be shared can be configured on a per subscriber basis. Affilias calls the service ESDS (Extensible Supply-Chain Discovery Services) and hopes it'll become an industry standard. [via RFID Journal]

What happens when you lose one? Can the finder/ thief use it to make purchases? Supposedly there are safeguards, but since you can just "tap" your phone at, say, a cashless vending machine, I don't see how that'd stop a thief. I've yet to come across any articles that explain this.

Most people guard their cell phones closely, so it won't be a big issue. Not yet. But since ABI Research predicted back in 2004 that that 50% of phones would have NFC by 2009, it'll become a growing issue. It happens; phones get misplaced or stolen. And if phones become our wallets, isn't that more incentive for some people to steal them? That is, if it's easy to use any stored credits. And will it be easy for a thief to determine what your recent purchases were?

I'm assuming you can have your phone disabled if it gets "misplaced", though you'd have to find a phone elsewhere to make the call. (To whom, exactly? I've not seen any indication that payment credits on NFC phones are handled by credit card issuers or some other organization.)

There's a similar problem for contactless credit cards, since a signature is not required for transactions under $25 for most cards. Sure, these can be easily cancelled, and the transactions removed from a card carrier's credit statement, so the point is moot. But as for a lost NFC phone, I'm guessing that knowledge of what happens is only available to those who have one.

Remember CDs and DVDs? Does anyone still buy them anymore? Of course they do (despite the fall of Tower Records and lots of smaller music stores). And that probably means they still get stolen. So NXP Semiconductors is introducing RFID technology to fight theft. DVD makers will embed a tag into their discs, which would not be disabled until an item is sold, thus reducing thefts - since who would want an unwatchable DVD?

Just wondering if anyone has thought to place an RFID reader inside a DVD player. The disc tags wouldn't have to be disabled, and assuming they can't be cloned, discs would only play if they're legit. If this can actually work (i.e., no flaws in the concept), this could kill the counterfeit market altogether. Counterfeiting has long been a problem for a variety of consumer products, and RFID has been introduced to fight in some markets. Examples are celebrity collectibles, casino chips, and certain pharmaceutical drugs.

A roundup of recent RFID-related news.

NFC Vending Machine Demo
RFID in Japan has a YouTube video showing someone buying a drink from a vending machine and paying for it with their NFC-enabled cell phone.

RFID Implants For Payment Systems
A nightclub in Barcelona, Spain is allowing patrons to use implanted RFID chips to enter a VIP area and pay for drinks. Said one of the owners of the club:

I know a lot of people have fears about it. Having a radio-transmitting chip under your skin makes you very unique.

Right. So do horns sticking out of your head, which I'll have implanted before an RFID chip.

Dual-Purpose RFID Labels
Checkpoint Systems is introducing an inventory tracking and anti-theft system for retailers. The system uses RFID labels that serves the dual purpose by having two different circuits. This is apparently worrying privacy advocates who feel the system might track customers who chips after a purchase.

The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) recently released a 150+ page PDF report that details some of the security risks of using RFID in a supply chain. Said Robert C. Cresanti, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology:

RFID tags, commonly referred to as smart tags, have the ability to improve logistics, profoundly change cost structures for business, and improve the current levels of safety and authenticity of the international pharmaceutical supply chain and many other industries. This important report lays the foundation for addressing potential RFID security risks so that a thoughtful enterprise can launch a smart tag program with confidence.

The report also suggests ways to get around the security risks. Download from NIST issues guidelines for ensuring RFID security. [via Extreme RFID]

It's expected that by 2011, there'll be nearly 110M users of contactless payment cards in use in the United States, with purchases totalling nearly US$15B. This will be a rise from nearly 30M cards in 2006, which is far behind many other other countries. The market that card issuers are going after is for small-ticket purchases of typically US$25 or less per transaction. Such transactions will not require a signature, thus supposedly speeding up shopping and possibly luring consumers from other payment methods. These figures do not include payments by mobile phone, which are also expected to grow in the US, thanks to an increasing number of NFC-enabled phones and vending machines.

OTA Training announced last week a new RFID training and certification program in Argentina. This is the first program of its kind in the region. The program is a joint effort between OTA Training, EPCGlobal Argentina, and Telectronica. Said Robert Sabella, CEO and founder of OTA Training:

We are extremely proud to be a part of this first offering of high quality RFID training in Argentina. Telectronica and EPCGlobal, in particular, have taken a leading role in building awareness around RFID and we are honored to help them promote real, hands-on training in RFID technology.

This is of course good news, as support for RFID training and certification is a good sign of the expanding global RFID market. A minimum of training programs around the world will hold back widescale enterprise adoption of RFID, due to lack of skilled workers.