Oracle Unveils RFID Software Solutions Package

According to Network World Fusion:

"Dubbed Oracle Sensor-Based Services, the new offerings include an RFID pilot kit and software for checking system compatibility with retailers' RFID specifications. The tools are designed to help users capture, manage, analyze and respond to data collected by remote sensors, such as RFID tags and readers, Oracle says." Read more

Impinj to Ship Reusable Long-Range RFID Tags in June

According to Using RFID:

"The US-based 'self-adaptive Silicon' producer, Impinj Inc., has announced its first long-range field re-writable RFID tag product, named 'Zuma', which will be ready for shipment in June 2004.

"Zuma enables RFID users to write data to tags at long range, enhancing the functionality and value of RFID deployments in the supply chain. ...

"'The Zuma system will turbo-charge an already exciting market,' anticipates Dimitri Desmons, Impinj's director of RFID products."

MIT Prof Suggests RFID Usage in Credit Cards

BBC News reports:

"A leading professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has suggested using radio tags in credit cards as a kind of virtual signature.

"Professor Ted Selker said the way someone moved their finger over the card would alter the radio transmission, producing a signal unique to that person. ...

"The idea of putting radio tags in credit cards is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Mastercard has been experimenting with the technology, known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)." Read more

Delta Airlines Begins Second RFID Test to Track Luggage

In the final quarter of 2003, Delta Airlines began implementing RFID technology to track 40,000 pieces of passenger luggage. Typically, with bar code scanners, Delta's success rate was 80% - 85% accuracy. Last December, however, Delta announced that the RFID-tagged baggage received accuracy levels of anywhere between 96.7% - 99.9%.

Today, Delta, with cooperation from the TSA, began its second test of RFID-tagged luggage.

Computerworld reports:

"The tags operate at a frequency of 915 MHz, the same frequency that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to use in its supply chain. ...

"RFID bag tracking offers a 'significant ROI' for Delta... [said Pat Rary, manager for baggage planning and development at Delta]. He declined to provide details, except to say the airline spends 'tens of millions of dollars' in locating 800,000 misdirected bags a year." Read more

TSA Considers RFID-tagged Boarding Passes

The Transportation Security Administration is considering using airline boarding passes that would carry RFID chips. Anthony Cerino, communications security technology lead at TSA, claims that the boarding passes with these RFID tags would enable a customer designated as a "registered traveller" to quickly pass through a special lane when boarding an aircraft. Privacy advocates, however, are concerned about the consequences of RFID-tagged boarding passes.

Computerworld reports:

"Under the registered traveler program, frequent fliers would provide the TSA with detailed personal information that would be correlated by a background check. Privacy advocates said they believe the RFID boarding pass would then serve as an automatic link to the registered traveler database. ...

"The RFID boarding passes would let security personnel 'know people's whereabouts,' Cerino said."

RFID Could Aid Homeland Security Department

According to Washington Technology:

"Widespread use of radio frequency identification technology throughout commercial industry could help the Homeland Security Department do its job better, a department official said today.

"When companies use RFID to improve their supply chains, Homeland Security gains greater confidence in those supply chains, 'thereby lessening the need for us to come in with some kind of one-size-fits-all regulatory structure,' said Stewart Verdery, assistant secretary for border and transportation security policy and planning." Read more

Alien Technology Cuts RFID Tag Price

The price of EPC tags has been cut to less than 20 cents on all orders of over 1 million by Alien Technology, an RFID technologies pioneer.

The RFID Journal reports:

"According to the company, the cut is key in the acceptance and adoption of EPC technology. 'Users need to see that there is a roadmap toward the 5-cent tag, and step by step our volumes and production costs are going the right way to pass savings onto our customers,' said Stav Prodromou, CEO at Alien Technology, which is based in Morgan Hill, Calif. 'Other companies will have to either follow our pricing lead or cede the market to us.'" Read more