Interesting story here in ZDNet Asia about an increasing number of countries signing up for a pilot involving RFID. The use of RFID in postal services isn't new - the Finns have been using it since 2008 - but its use is clearly growing.
Interesting article here in RFID Monthly which discusses the value of RFID. It suggests that RFID's ability to generate value is evolving, with businesses ready to take a closer look at how to add value with RFID by leveraging its automated features to more quickly discover process exceptions or to provide item level visibility into large pools of products.
It suggests that mistakes happen in daily processes, but we cannot always change the human element and it is hard and costly to define sufficient business controls to reduce errors to an acceptable level in many cases. It adds that this is where RFID plays a crucial role. It allows users to identify exceptions and manage business processes much more efficiently.
This concept doesn't seem too far removed from another theme I'm writing on a lot at the moment, that of IT Service Management and ITIL. ITIL is a set of policies and procedures for managing IT infrastructure assets, operations, development and review to manage core IT processes while standardising the way IT problems are tackled. The interesting thing is that both RFID and ITIL are helping to deliver business value.
Browsing around I spotted this little gadget, a 2TB hard drive from Freecom that is secured by RFID. Sounds like a great idea, and probably as this review suggests, might be suitable for a small business. Mind you, there may be a queue to get one.
The topic of RFID security has always attracted interest. There have been numerous tales over the last few years of RFID hacking and new security approaches, all of which have added to RFID's mystique.
Now, work by the influential BRIDGE (Building Radio frequency IDentification solutions for the Global Environment) project is tackling the security issue through the Tag Security Research Group (SRG) and has produced a White Paper tackling the issue of tag security detailing how a new landscape for the use of more secure tags compliant with EPCglobal's Gen 2 protocol might evolve.
In its conclusions the group says the objective of the White Paper was to review the current RFID tag security activities and to investigate future requirements. It suggests the ongoing purpose and focus of the SRG should be to build security functionality into tags and readers to enable applications to have a secure platform that can be used to implement their specific security functions and commands.
Never too far away from RFID security issues are privacy concerns, and the White Paper suggests that, as more businesses begin to rely on EPC-based events to manage and share critical supply chain processes, effective solutions must be in place to guarantee control of confidential data and system accountability.
The reality is that the sharing of information can increase productivity, but at the same time, such sharing raises questions about the use and misuse of information by third parties once information has been disclosed.
The White Paper considers one of the main success stories emanating from the SRG work to be the groundbreaking development done to satisfy privacy requirements by 'stunning' an RFID tag as it leaves a store so that it cannot be read outside the store environment, but could still be reactivated if/when the item and tag are returned to the retailer. This protects the consumer's privacy while at the same time solving the retailer's consistent and thorny problem of how to manage product returns.
I recently discussed the role of Acqsys in servicing manufacturers' - typically food and beverage companies like Nestle, Heineken and assets such as refrigerators, beer taps, water coolers - assets on the Iberian Peninsula.
To ensure that it has the right tag on the right asset in the right location, Acqsys has a partnership with RFID specialist Intellident which enables it to ensure the tag works effectively.
That's particularly important given RFID's challenges in coping with certain physical characteristics, such as water and metal.
In some cases, the positioning of tags will need to be tailored to meet the demands of where at the end user location the assets are positioned. For example, if the refrigerator is parked against a wall, the tag may be placed in a pre-manufactured recess within the equipment.
The tags - usually active tags with a maximum life of up to 5 years - will have their pulse rate turned down to extend battery life, meaning that when the manufacturers' salespeople visit the end location - or 'bridge to the consumer' - they can still track and create a record that the asset is still in place and has not been moved, displaced or been stolen.
In some parts of the Iberian Peninula, the assets are still identified by bar codes rather than RFID tags, which means the bar codes' condition must be monitored to ensure they are not damaged and cannot be read.
Acqsys' asset tracking and asset servicing business model works on the basis that instead of servicing the assets sitting on their balance sheets, manufacturers would sell the assets to Acqsys which would then create a one-stop-shop servicing model, which improves asset efficiency and releases working capital for the manufacturers.
The partnership with Intellident and use of RFID demonstrates how, for an asset tracking and maintenance operation, RFID has become an integral - and now almost everyday - application.
Today's challenging economic times are spurring the creation of new innovative business models to help restructure companies' finances and shift assets from company balance sheets to generate capital that can be better utilised within the business.
One new business model that has recently emerged and is now operating across Europe is the streamlining of the servicing process for manufacturers by taking assets off manufacturers' books, releasing working capital and reducing the number of separate, scheduled servicing trips by numerous distributors.
One of the pioneers of this new business model is Reading-based Acqsys, which is now working with leading manufacturers in the food and beverage industry to help them free up that working capital from their assets.
Acqsys is a global asset management solutions organisation servicing asset-intensive customers in the food, beverage and transportation sectors. Its clients typically include large investment grade food and beverage manufacturers and staple food and drinks businesses, including Heineken, Scottish and Newcastle, Danone and Nestle.
As well as releasing capital and asset management, other business benefits accruing from the Acqsys business model are improved sales productivity, better asset traceability, more effectively managed asset lifecycle costs, reduced assets losses, and reduced cost of servicing assets.
Where does RFID come in? Through its partnership with radio frequency identification (RFID) specialist Intellident, Acqsys will put RFID tags on all its assets so that when a manufacturer's salesperson visits the client, he or she can use a PDA to scan the device. This can prevent fraud by accurately recording assets on an asset register while also accurately tracking the maintenance life of the asset for depreciation purposes.
For the food service industry, whose equipment typically encompasses assets such as ice cream refrigerators, coffee machines, vending machines, water coolers, hot and cold beverage machines yoghurt-makers and beer taps, servicing of their assets is an expensive and time-consuming business. For example, for Heineken, the world's third largest brewer, equipment that costs around 100m Euros (£85m) to acquire across Western Europe will cost 50m Euros (£42m) a year to clean and service. That's nearly half the costs again in maintenance after the initial purchase price.
Assets are a complex business and the investment can be very cost intensive. The main driver for a food service company is to find the most effective way of managing an asset operation, and getting the balance right between throughput, payback, and the efficiency of the asset. What a manufacturer is asking itself is, 'Can we place equipment in certain outlets that drives output through them - and what is the most effective way of doing it that drives both traffic and volume?'
Ice cream refrigerators are an ideal example of such assets. On the Iberian Peninsula, there are 100,000 ice cream refrigerators owned manufacturers. Those assets are held on the manufacturers' balance sheets, and serviced by their distributors (or concessionaires) at point-of-sale locations such as cafes, bars, supermarkets or at the beach. These high value assets out in the field are a step removed from the manufacturer, making them notoriously difficult to audit. One ice cream manufacturer who only did an audit every three years found it had fewer assets than it originally thought.
As this business model for the servicing of food service assets comes into its own, you can expect RFID to play a growing role in improving asset management and reducing asset losses.
Use of RFID within the data centre to track IT assets is growing, according to this article on IT Business Edge, which says the Financial Services Tech Consortium has been developing standards for IT asset tracking.
Perhaps inevitably, compliance is the driver, in the shape of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. Vendor members of FSTC include Microsoft, IBM and eBay, with banking members including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Fidelity Investments.
You can read more about FSTC's investigation into using RFID by following this link to a piece in RFID Journal
The headlines may say this week that the European Commission adopted a set of recommendations to make sure that everyone involved in the design or operation of smart chip i.e. RFID applications that respects the individual's fundamental right to privacy and data protection..
The reality behind the recommendations is that the EC has had to recognise reality and rein back some of its proposed RFID recommendations after intense lobbying from current and future would-be RFID exponents warned that the EC's hobnail boots threatened to trample all over the sapling RFID industry. A commonsense approach that satisfies all has prevailed.
Not too many months ago, organisations such as EPCglobal were trying to get over their message to the EC that "with RFID applications at a fledging state, the business case for RFID for many retailers is still only just about positive and others still have difficulty finding it. Any EC requirement to offer deactivation with all its complexities, or even ubiquitous simple tag removal, would be very likely to result in the stopping of item level adoption by retailers. This is likely to halt the long term opportunities and benefits of RFID for consumer and retailer before they have been obtained. RFID offers a real opportunity for European retailers to become more efficient. This will not happen if the legislation fails to strike the right balance between consumer protection and the benefits consumers and retailers can obtain from an efficient service driven retail industry."
The clear message then was that functionality in RFID technology goes hand in hand with cost. Any functionality, security, privacy or other, has a price. If goverments regulate in any way there is bound to be a private sector outcry on cost. However a laissez faire approach without adequate regards to protecting the rights of ALL participants, including citizens, is possibly a recipe for trouble. This is one of the issues government policy makers fear. The impact of culture and local societal values in matters of security and privacy cannot be underestimated. There is a fear that RFID could go down the same road in public perception as GM foods with decisons being based on irrational emotions and politics. If so, opportunities could be lost.
It seems those fears have been understood and taken on board within the corridors of power in Brussels when it came to discussions over the deactivation or removal of tags.
GS1 EPCglobal, which has been an active and committed stakeholder throughout the process, says that consumers and businesses will both benefit from the recommendation's practical guidance for leveraging the benefits of deploying RFID within the European Union, while protecting the privacy of consumers. Hence, this text is the result of contributions from different stakeholders and in a sense, all stakeholders are winners. GS1 EPCglobal considers that efforts should now be placed on how to efficiently implement the provisions of this Recommendation, and it will work with its community of users towards that end.
Gadget-loving blog ShinyShiny brought to my attention a little RFID Amusement.
The French-language cultural magazine Amusement has published a print issue with an RFID chip attached, which, when read by a suitable RFID-reader, provides access to additional content.
There's a very basic video overview of Amusement's RFID chip in use over at Shiny's site (focusing almost as much on Nabaztags as on Amusement) or you can visit the magazine's own site for more information (although this is probably best for the French-speakers among you).
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