Radio frequency identification technology received a
massive boost last week, when retail giant Wal-Mart announced it is
going to direct its top 100 suppliers to have all their cases and
pallets tagged by 1 January 2005.
RFID tags, which allow goods to be electronically tracked along the
supply chain, have been gaining popularity, but the backing of
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is likely to be a trigger
for widespread adoption.
"The top 100 Wal-Mart suppliers will use something like eight
billion tags a year," said Pete Abell, analyst at AMR Research.
"Wal-Mart is doing this the way it did barcodes."
In a further boost for RFID, Microsoft last week said it plans to
join Auto-ID, the not-for-profit body set up to create a standard -
known as the Electronic Product Code - for the technology.
UK users said the creation of the EPC standard, which will be
formalised in September, together with support from influential
companies such as Wal-Mart, will see RFID use becoming more
widespread.
"Once standards are established and the big players, such as
Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble, adhere to them, others will
follow," said Peter Jordan, director of IS strategic projects at
food manufacturer Kraft Foods. "One of the keys to the EPC standard
is that it offers a migration from other RFID standards and older
systems, such as the barcode."
In a related development, security technology provider RSA Labs
last week revealed it has filed patents on two applications
designed to overcome privacy fears relating to RFID.
Ari Juels, principal research analyst at RSA, said a "blocker" tag,
which would disable the ability of readers to read tags once goods
have been paid for, and "pseudonym throttling", which means tags
would only be readable every few seconds, would boost consumer
confidence in RFID.