RFID Metal Packaging Works as Antenna

QinetiQ and Crown collaborate to develop adaptation of QinetiQ's Omni-ID Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for use on metal packaging. The improvements will enable RFID tags at the unit-level on metal items. Technology advancement is expected to integrate the metal substrate as part of the RFID tag's antenna. ...

... "This will enable brand owners to integrate ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID tags into metal packaging for a wide variety of applications at the single item level. Designed to mitigate issues such as signal reflection, detuning and grounding which reduce or negate RFID's effectiveness on metal packaging or with aqueous-based products, the unique technology leverages several of metal's inherent properties and shifts the format into an advantageous position.

QinetiQ's standalone Omni-ID tags and integrated Omni-ID packaging technology allows a UHF tag to be mounted directly onto the metal substrate. Measuring substantially less than 1mm in thickness, the unique Omni-ID structure collects and focuses RF energy and enables highly efficient coupling to the chip. Another advantage of the system is that RFID chips require only a short coupling antenna rather than the large dipole usually incorporated in UHF tags, significantly reducing manufacturing costs. Crown and QinetiQ are continuing development of the technology for metal packaging to further optimize design. In the near future, it is expected that the metal substrate itself will have an integral role in the way the technology functions. Using a beverage or food can as an example, the can itself would serve as the antenna, simplifying production of the RFID tag and further reducing costs. " ...

Via Qinetiq: Crown teams up with QinetiQ to resolve challenges of RFID on metal packaging ...

Intelleflex RFID Equity Funding ...

Intelleflex Corp secures another round of venture capital funding to enable the scale-up of production volumes. ...

... "Intelleflex Corporation, The Intelligent RFID Platform Company, announced the closing of a $15.5 million round of equity funding. This Series B round was led by Morgenthaler Ventures, and was over-subscribed, with continuing participation by Series A investors Woodside Fund, Alloy Ventures and Selby Venture Partners. Proceeds from this round will be used to ramp production, extend the company's line of high performance RFID tags and readers and expand the company's go-to-market capabilities. Intelleflex products enable critical applications including asset management, yard operations, manufacturing WIP, supply chain and security / access control.



The $11.3 million Intelleflex had raised in its A round was used to develop the industry's first fully integrated multi-protocol EPC-compliant RFID single chip IC. In their battery-assisted passive mode of operation, the tags built around this chip offer operating ranges in excess of 100 meters, robust performance in difficult RF conditions and an extended feature set including 64k bits of user read / write memory. " ...

Intelleflex RFID Equity Funding: Intelleflex Corporation Secures $15.5 Million in Series B Funding ...

RFID Gen2 Chip Supply for Alien ...

Tower Semi will manufacture Generation 2 RFID chips for Alien Technology. ...

... "Tower Semiconductor Ltd., a pure-play independent specialty foundry, announced that it is the manufacturing supplier for Alien Technology's internally-designed Gen 2 RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) integrated circuits. These ICs recently achieved the EPCGlobal certification mark. The RFID ICs are produced at Tower's Fab2 in an advanced 0.18-micron manufacturing process. Market analysts forecast the RFID IC's market to grow significantly to between $500 millions and $1 Billion by 2010, mainly due to the Gen 2 impact. RFID tags help enable supply chain efficiency, visibility and security and are being deployed in retail, defense, transportation and health markets. Some of the implementation initiatives are being led by major US retailers. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 13 federal agencies are already using or plan to deploy RFID technology. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), has mandated RFID's use across its suppliers for increased supply chain visibility and improved forecasting. The newly certified Alien Gen 2 RFID chips include some new CMOS devices which were jointly developed with Tower. IC development efforts focused on the low-power requirements for such an RFID tag which draws its power solely from transmitted Radio Frequency energy. " ...

RFID Gen2 Chip Supply for Alien: Via Tower Semiconductor: Tower Semiconductor Manufactures Gen 2 RFID Tags for Alien Technology ...

WIFI RFID System on Chip ...

G2 Microsystems introduces RFID system on a chip that supports WIFI networking standards. ...

... "G2 Microsystems Inc., a developer of integrated circuits for the Mobile Resource Management (MRM) market, announced an ultra low-power, active radio frequency identification (RFID) System-on-a-Chip (SoC) that leverages the widely-deployed Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) network infrastructure. By using this existing infrastructure, G2 Microsystems SoC enables businesses to install asset tracking systems at a fraction of the cost of today's solutions resulting in at least a 75% reduction in total cost of ownership. Additionally, the chip's integrated support for multiple location technologies and environmental sensing coupled with ultra low-power consumption enables a new class of tags that will open the door for global MRM services in many enterprise applications.

Mobile resource management is a fast-growing market that uses RTLS to track and monitor assets both inside and outside of facilities. The Yankee Group forecasts the global RTLS market will grow to $1.6B by 2010, fueled by deployments in healthcare, manufacturing and logistics. Targeted at the RTLS market, G2 Microsystems' G2C501 Wi-Fi Active RFID SoC is a very flexible solution that enables a broad range of customer types to tailor systems to their specific application at a very low total cost of ownership. The chip is currently being incorporated into leading RTLS solutions including those from Ekahau and PanGo Networks. " ...

WIFI RFID System on Chip: Via G2 Microsystems: G2 Microsystems Significantly Reduces Cost of Asset Tracking Systems with Industry's First Wi-Fi RFID System-on-a-Chip: Leading Real-Time Location System (RTLS) Providers, Ekahau and PanGo Networks, Plan to use G2 Microsystems' Chip ...

RFID GlaxoSmithKline Technology Test ...

GlaxoSmithKline tests RFID technology on HIV drug to combat counterfeiting. ...

... "GlaxoSmithKline has begun distributing a medicine tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology as part of a pilot project to help protect patient safety. The tags will be placed on all bottles of Trizivir (an HIV medicine) distributed in the United States. When scanned at close range, the tags will help verify that the medicine bottle contains authentic Trizivir. This specific medicine was selected for the project because it has been listed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy as one of 32 drugs most susceptible to counterfeiting and diversion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked the pharmaceutical industry to develop standards and pilot processes for RFID that may lead in the next few years to broad adoption and use of the technology. RFID uses a tiny silicon chip and antenna about the size of a postage stamp that is attached to each bottle of medicine. The chip stores a unique product code that reflects information about the drug's manufacturing and shipping history. The product code can be read by pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacists using a hand-held or stationary electronic device that is placed within 2-18 inches of the tag. The tag can be read by wholesalers when it is received from the manufacturer and when it is shipped to pharmacies, who would then record when they have received the medicine. This allows manufacturers to more precisely account for medicine as it moves through the distribution chain and to authenticate medicine at the point of dispensing. " ...

RFID GlaxoSmithKline Technology Test: Via GlaxoSmithKline: GlaxoSmithKline begins testing new technology ...

RFID UHF Gen2 Chips Used in Labels ...

Impinj wins contract to supply their RFID UHF Gen2 chips for use in label products from RF IDentics. ...

... "Impinj, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its high performance radio frequency identification (RFID) products, announced an agreement under which RF IDentics will purchase Impinj's Monza UHF Gen 2 chips for inclusion in its RFID inlay and label products. Responding to increased demand from leading consumer goods manufacturers in the global retail supply chain for high-performance RFID solutions, RF IDentics selected Impinj's Monza chips to power their RFID inlay products. In addition to Impinj's chips, RF IDentics will use its proprietary RFID antenna technology as well as antennas licensed from Impinj to manufacture the RFID inlays and labels used to gather and track retail supply chain data. " ...

RFID UHF Gen2 Chips Used in Labels: Via Impinj: Impinj and RF Identics Announce 25 Million UHF Gen 2 Supply Agreement ...

Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and innovative semiconductor intellectual property (IP). A leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide, Impinj leverages its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix solution, comprising tags, readers, software and systems integration to offer RFID that just works. Impinj's innovative IP products, core to the company's RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to seamlessly integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's IP products include the popular AEON family of embedded cores, which provides rewriteable NVM technology in logic CMOS manufacturing.

RFID Label for Anti-Counterfeiting ...

Sokymat offers RFID label for anti-counterfeiting applications in printing ...

... "Sokymat SA, the world's leading supplier of RFID transponders, has developed a 13.56 MHz RFID label specially designed as an anti-counterfeiting tool for printer ribbons. The label attaches directly to the core of the printer ribbon, making it impossible to tamper with. A printer with integrated reader module can now easily distinguish between an original ribbon and unauthorized counterfeits. ... The transponder is available both as a standard label, which comes in a special material with the same printing characteristics as paper, or as a customized product, such as a very robust PET laminated ring label. Sokymat provides this high frequency label with an I-Code1 IC chip. In any case, Sokymat is able to produce any variety of customized label based on ISO 15693 compliant ICs for example.

Sokymat has developed a very small specific flip-chip module package for this application – the SK1 – which makes it possible to produce a very thin and narrow ring transponder, about 10mm wide and less than 1.2mm thick. This very narrow HF label cannot be produced with traditional label manufacturing techniques (printed or etched antenna), which require a larger pitch resolution between the turns of the coil. The antenna is designed to achieve optimum performance despite the interference that may be present. " ...

RFID Label for Anti-Counterfeiting: Via Sokymat: Sokymat launches anti-counterfeiting RFID label designed for printer ribbon identification ...

Plastic RFID Electronics Demonstrated by Philips

Philips Research crew demonstrates RFID electronic based on plastic ...

... "Scientists at Philips Research have created a fully functional 13.56 MHz RFID tag based entirely on plastic electronics. In contrast to conventional silicon-chip-based RFID tags, a plastic electronics RFID chip can be printed directly onto a plastic substrate along with an antenna without involving complex assembly steps. This could pave the way for the packaging industry to replace existing barcodes by a low-cost RFID tag that provides individual packages with a unique item-level identification code - something not feasible with current barcode technology.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, based on remotely retrieving information via radio waves from miniature electronic circuits called RFID tags. Philips has now realized the first plastic-electronics-based tag that is capable of transmitting multi-bit digital identification codes at 13.56 MHz � the dominant industry-standard radio frequency for RFID tag applications. As an additional demonstrator for the technology, scientists at Philips Research have also developed a 64-bit code generator, showing the practicality of building plastic electronic circuits with the complexity required for item-level tagging.

Performance results for these circuits will be presented at this year's International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC, February 5-9, San Francisco, CA, USA) in a paper that will also be awarded the conference's Beatrice Winner Award for Editorial Excellence. Being a world leader in the RFID business, Philips supplies silicon-based components for applications such as supply chain management, public transport, pharmaceuticals and animal tracking. Current silicon-based tags have excellent performance, and when produced in volume, can be manufactured at low cost. Philips is also conducting research into plastic-electronics-based RFID tags, since these tags have the potential to be manufactured in a radically different way, namely via even lower-cost reel-to-reel and other in-line processing techniques. " ...

Plastic RFID Electronics Demonstrated by Philips: Via Philips: Philips demonstrates world-first technical feasibility of 13.56-MHz RFID tags based on plastic electronics ...

Additional references on plastic RFID technology:

German researchers move forward on plastic RFID chip - Via Computerworld: "By 2008, PolyIC hopes to have a chip with a storage capacity of 128 bits and a processing speed of 13.56 MHz to comply with radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, according to Mildner. "

Beyond Bar Codes: Tuning up plastic radio labels: Via Science News: "Electronic labels made from plastic semiconductors can now pick up and respond to radio signals at a frequency suitable for use on products. "

OrganicID, Inc.: Printable, Plastic RFID Tags: "Organic Transistors - The Pros: Compatibility with flexible plastic substances, Lower temperature manufacturing (60-120°C), Lower-cost printable deposition processes "

RFID Company Raises Capital ...

Impinj raises another round of investment funding from venture capitalists to sustain its growth in the RFID technology industry. ...

... "Impinj, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its two business lines: semiconductor intellectual property and high performance radio frequency identification (RFID) products, announced it has secured a $26.5 million round of funding. Participants in the funding round included new investors GF Private Equity Group LLC, who led the round, and VentureTech Alliance along with existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Mobius Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Unilever Technology Ventures, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund and the Viterbi Group. This new injection of capital allows Impinj to maintain our excellent progress delivering the semiconductor solutions that our customers in the explosive RFID and the nascent embedded nonvolatile markets are demanding, said Dr. William Colleran, President and CEO of Impinj. We will continue to aggressively drive our product development and operations to maintain our leadership positions in those markets. " ...

RFID Company Raises Capital: Via Impinj: Impinj Raises $26.5M, Cements RFID Leadership Role ...

Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). A leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide, Impinj leverages its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix™ solution, comprising tags, readers, software and systems integration to offer RFID that just works™. Impinj’s innovative SIP products, core to the company’s RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's SIP products include the popular AEON™ memory, the world's first rewriteable NVM technology compatible with logic CMOS manufacturing, and AEFuse™, the world's first rewriteable fuse architecture.

RFID Generation 2 Chips: TI Impinj Collaborate ...

Impinj and TI collaborate to deliver RFID Generation 2 inlay products. ...

Via Impinj: Impinj and Texas Instruments Announce RFID Gen 2 Supply Agreement ...

... "Impinj, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its two business lines: semiconductor intellectual property and high performance radio frequency identification (RFID) products, and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN), a leading provider of RFID chips, inlays and straps, announced a supply agreement under which Impinj will provide its Monza RFID Generation 2 (Gen 2) chips for inclusion in TI's initial production of RFID inlay and strap products. As part of its Gen 2 product offering, TI is using Monza chips from Impinj for its manufacturing of Gen 2 inlays and straps that label converter companies are incorporating into finished RFID tags for use by consumer goods manufacturers in the global retail supply chain. Part of Impinj's GrandPrix solution for robust RFID systems, Monza is the world's first tag chip certified as compliant with the Gen 2 standard promulgated by EPCglobal Inc, the industry consortium established to promote RFID in the global supply chain. " ...

RFID Technology ISO9001:2000 Certification ...

HID achieves ISO9001 certification for the design, manufacture, and distribution of RFID technology. ...

RFID Technology ISO9001:2000 Certification: Via HID: HID Achieves ISO9001:2000 Re-Certification for Design, Manufacture, and Distribution of RFID-Based Contactless Smart Cards and Readers: The Management System Certification Encompasses Excellence Meeting Customer and Regulatory Requirements While Continually Improving HID's Product Performance ...

... "HID Corporation, the premier manufacturer of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry, announced that is has achieved ISO 9001:2000 re-certification for quality management and its system certification that encompasses manufacturing. HID first received ISO9000 certification on June 1, 1999, ISO 9001:2000 certification on June 1, 2002 and has been continuously certified while they maintain focus on continuous process improvements for the company's entire iCLASS 13.56 MHz, Prox 125 kHz, and Wiegand card and reader technology design, manufacture and distribution processes. To attain ISO9001 certification, all certified companies must be in conformance to the ISO9001:2000 standard that requires companies to do what is needed to fulfill the customer's quality requirements, enhance customer satisfaction, manage the processes or activities and to achieve continual improvement of their performance in pursuit of these objectives. " ...

As the largest manufacturer of contactless access control readers and cards for the security industry, HID has shipped over 250 million credentials to customers worldwide. HID pioneered the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for physical access control. Proximity and iCLASS® technologies can be housed on the same credential and combined with other technologies such as magnetic stripe, barcode, or contact smart chip modules. This provides users the ability to leverage their investment in existing systems while seamlessly upgrading to new technologies and adding new applications. For increased security, users can add a photo ID or anti-counterfeiting element such as a hologram or ultraviolet ink. HID’s experience in developing card technologies enables them to play a critical role in the evolution and adoption of contactless smart card technology used for applications such as access control, IT secure authentication, digital cash, the storage of biometric templates, and the storage and retrieval of critical information.

Sub10Cent RFID Inlays

RFID tag and inlay manufacturer, UPM Rafsec, will ship UHF Gen 1 and Gen 2 inlays at sub-10 U.S. cent pricing in minimum order quantities of 50,000 pieces. Sub 10cent RFID inlays lay the foundation for the cheap and ubiquitous use of RFID technology ....

Sub10Cent RFID Inlays: UPM RAFSEC KNOCKING DOWN UHF RFID ADOPTION BARRIERS WITH SUB-10 CENT INLAYS ...

... "This UPM Rafsec offer includes dry and wet delivery formats of the OneTenna™ short dipole which are compatible with existing converting technology for the insertion of inlays into smart labels and other substrates. UPM Rafsec UHF products have already been tested, approved and used by a large number of leading RFID adopters. The inlays are manufactured at UPM Rafsec's production facility in Fletcher, North Carolina (USA), with innovative technology for the volume production of EPC (Electronic Product Code) -compliant UHF tags and inlays. The unparalleled yields of this new, high volume production technology give UPM Rafsec competitive advantages and provide customers significantly lower applied tag costs. The patent pending process is cost-efficient, scalable and enables UPM Rafsec to rapidly increase its capacity according to market demand. " ...

References on inexpensive RFID inlays:

... "Via SATO: RFID Thermal Labels: SATO RFID labels can be made with any type of RFID inlay. Some examples of the other inlay types available include Ucode, UHF 868-928MHz ISO 18000, and Class 0 and 0+. RFID labels can be pre-printed, flood coated or laminated and can be converted in most popular finishing styles. " ...

... "Via Avery Dennison: INNOVATIVE AVERY DENNISON MANUFACTURING PROCESS BOOSTS RFID TAG PRODUCTION CAPACITY: Inlay is the term used for the electronic core of an RFID label. It typically consists of a metal pattern on a sheet of plastic film that functions as an antenna, onto which an integrated circuit (semiconductor chip) is attached. The inlay is then sandwiched between a paper facestock and an adhesive layer to form a self-stick RFID label. " ...

... "Via SmartCode: SmartCode Corp. beats any price for EPC Gen 2 Inlays for orders of 1 million - SmartCode prices EPC Gen 2 Inlays at 7.5 cents for quantities of 1 million and 7.2 cents for orders exceeding 10 million: The EPC Gen 2 Quickstart™ Program aims to accelerate the mass adoption of EPC Gen 2 solutions. Under the EPC Gen 2 Quickstart™ Program, SmartCode Corp. will offer the lowest cost EPC Gen 2 inlays at a price of 7.5 cents in orders of 1 million inlays or more and 7.2 cents in orders of 10 million or more. SmartCode Corp. EPC Gen 2 Quickstart™ Program is available for orders received until the 1st of January 2006. The delivery schedule can span throughout 2006. " ...

RFID Casino Chip Technology ...

RFID Casino Chip Technology: Via VendingData Corporation: VendingData™ Enters High Frequency RFID Casino Chip Business: VendingData™ to Acquire Dolphin Products’ Intellectual Property Including Global Distribution Rights to High Frequency RFID-Enabled Casino Chip Technology ...

... "Dolphin Products began designing and manufacturing traditional gaming chips in 1994 and has become a significant casino chip producer internationally. Dolphin began work on an RFID-enabled casino chip in 1995 using the 125 KHZ frequency. Due to the technical disadvantages and relatively high costs of the low frequency RFIDs, Dolphin began looking for a solution in the high frequency 13.56 MHz range, and was granted a patent in 2004 for their unique method of tagging a casino chip or token with a high frequency (13.56MHz) chip within a casino chip. To date, Dolphin Products is the only casino chip manufacturer that has designed a commercially viable, high frequency RFID casino chip, utilizing the Magellan microchip, which is regarded as the International Standard. " ...

New EPC Gen2 RFID Chips ...

New EPC Gen2 RFID Chips: Via ST: New EPC Gen2 RFID Chips from STMicroelectronics Ready to Facilitate Supply Chain Management ...

STMicro introduces new UHF (Ultra-High Frequency) RFID chip, compliant with Gen2 Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) specifications ...

... "ST's new UHF chip is a full-featured, low-cost integrated circuit designed for use in RFID tags, or electronic labels, operating at a range of UHF frequencies from 860 to 960MHz. This frequency agility ensures the same tag can be applied and read at any place in the world, regardless of the geographically varying wireless regulations. The universal appeal of EPC Generation 2 products is set to stimulate unprecedented economies of scale for RFID product manufacturers. Widespread adoption of RFID systems depends on their robustness and reliability. The XRAG2 features a fast and flexible anti-collision mechanism that allows the reader to detect and correctly identify all tags in its operating range. Designed for the noisy and unpredictable radio conditions typical of RFID applications, ST devices use a reliable tag-unique selection based on a 16-bit random handle. " ...

STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets.

RFID Gen2Tags Volume Shipments in 2005: 50 Million Expected ...

RFID Gen2Tags Volume Shipments in 2005: 50 Million Expected: Via Impinj: Impinj Gen 2 Silicon Shipments to Eclipse 50 Million Units in 2005 ...

Impinj expect volume shipments of their Gen2 RFID tags in 2005 ...

... "Impinj, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its two business lines: high performance radio-frequency identification (RFID) and semiconductor intellectual property products announced that it has entered volume production and will fulfill orders exceeding 50 million units for its Monza Generation 2 (Gen 2) RFID tag chip in the second half of 2005. Impinj has already manufactured several million of the Monza chips to fulfill orders from customers including Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY), Hana RFID, IER, KSW Microtec AG, Precisia, RF IDentics, RSI ID Technologies and UPM Rafsec. " ...

Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). A leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide, Impinj leverages its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix™ solution, comprising tags, readers, software and systems integration to offer RFID that just works™. Impinj’s innovative SIP products, core to the company’s RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's SIP products include the popular AEON™ memory, the world's first rewriteable NVM technology compatible with logic CMOS manufacturing, and AEFuse™, the world's first rewriteable fuse architecture.

Zebra RFID Smart Labels Supply Alien Tech ...

Via Zebra Technologies: ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES EXPANDS RFID SMART LABEL BUSINESS: Zebra adds smart label converting equipment to its supplies plant and qualifies as a supplier of Alien Technology EPC Class 1 RFID labels ...

Zebra supplies RFID Smart Labels with Alien Technology ...

... "A smart label is created by embedding a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip and antenna within the label material. Zebra is working closely with chip providers, such as Alien Technology, to ensure the quality and performance of each tag. With its expanded RFID label converting capabilities, Zebra can offer a wide range of high- and ultra-high frequency inlays to meet a variety of application needs as well as customized label facestocks, adhesives, sizes and formats. " ...

Alien Technology Corporation is a leading provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products for global customers in government, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and other industries. Using its patented manufacturing process, Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA®), Alien manufactures EPC tags in very high-volumes and at low cost. The company also provides RFID readers for a variety of applications including supply chain management, logistics, and anti-counterfeiting, to improve inventory management and reduce operating costs. Alien is an active member of EPCglobal.

Zebra Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ZBRA) delivers innovative and reliable on-demand printing solutions for business improvement and security applications in 100 countries around the world. More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Zebra-brand printers. A broad range of applications benefit from Zebra-brand thermal bar code, "smart" label, receipt, and card printers, resulting in enhanced security, increased productivity, improved quality, lower costs, and better customer service. The company has sold more than four million printers, including RFID printer/encoders and wireless mobile solutions, and also offers software, connectivity solutions and printing supplies.

RFID Temp Sensor: MicroSensys

RFID Temp Sensor: MicroSensys: MATRICS Group Offers RFID products and sensor tags by MicroSensys

... "The TELID 1T module with a integrated temperature sensor. The measured temperature value will be read contactlessly from outside by standard iID 2000 components from MICRO-SENSYS. Dimensions - 28mm x 6 mm.; Antenna - coil on chip; distance - short, closed coupling. " ...

The company microsensys is a specialist in manufacturing and developing of radio frequency identification components. In this wide field of possible products microsensys focuses on wireless closed coupling, low power, 13.56MHz RFID transponder and reader technologies. microsensys strategy is to offer the most innovative technology and the true realistically technical solution as far as this product portfolio is concerned. Located in Erfurt, founded in 1991, microsensys has dedicated his 12 years history to supplying RFID products for niche markets in Europe every time.

RFID Class0 Zuma Support ...

RFID Class0 Zuma Support: Printronix and Impinj Demonstrate Fully Interoperable Gen 2 Tag and Printer Encoding System: Printronix Also Continues to Expand the Industry's Widest Selection of Protocol and Tags With the Immediate Availability of Impinj Class 0 Zuma Support ...

... "Printronix Inc. (Nasdaq: PTNX), the leading integrated supply-chain printing solutions manufacturer, and Impinj Inc., the Self-Adaptive Silicon(R) company, today announced that they have jointly demonstrated EPCglobal(TM) Generation 2 (Gen 2) interoperability. During the demonstration, Printronix successfully encoded, read and printed labels containing the Impinj Monza(TM) Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) tag silicon inlays, using the Printronix SL5000r MP printer. " ...

Since 1974, Printronix Inc. (Nasdaq: PTNX) has created innovative printing solutions for the industrial marketplace and supply chain. The company is the worldwide market leader in enterprise solutions for line matrix printing and has earned an outstanding reputation for its high-performance thermal and fanfold laser printing solutions. Printronix also has become an established leader in pioneering technologies, including radio frequency identification (RFID) printing, bar code compliance and networked printer management. Printronix is headquartered in Irvine, Calif.

Impinj Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self- Adaptive Silicon(R) technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). Impinj is a leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide and is leveraging its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix(TM) solution, comprising tags, readers, software, systems integration and high- volume manufacturing to offer low-cost UHF RFID that just works. Impinj's innovative SIP products, core to the company's RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's SIP products include the popular AEON(TM) memory, the world's first rewritable NVM technology compatible with logic CMOS manufacturing.

Success in RFID Chip Market ...

ST | STMicroelectronics Confirmed as 2004 Market Leader for Serial Non-Volatile Memory Products | T1624M

... "ST achieved impressive revenue growth of 32.5% to sales of $224 million, taking the lead with over 32% of the market. Serial EEPROMs are used in a wide range of products, in automotive, consumer, computing and PC peripheral markets. The company's production volume increased more than 40% in 2004 to reach a total of more than 1 billion devices. This number also includes chips produced in volume for the emerging Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) market." ...

STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2004, the Company's net revenues were $8.76 billion and net earnings were $601 million.

RFID First Gen2 Solution: Impinj

Impinj Announces GrandPrix™ - World’s First Gen 2 RFID Solution ...

Impinj releases comprehensive Gen2 RFID solution ...

... "Impinj, Inc., the Self-Adaptive Silicon company, today announced a significant milestone in the advancement of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology with the release of its GrandPrix solution, a high-performance RFID system conforming to the EPCglobal Generation 2 (Gen 2) RFID protocol. The first RFID system to support all features of the Gen 2 standard, the Impinj GrandPrix solution delivers uncompromising performance with Impinj's Monza Gen 2 RFID tag chip and Speedway multi-protocol reader platform. Monza, the world's first 100% Gen 2 compliant and certifiable RFID tag chip, implements all mandatory features of the Gen 2 standard, is sampling today, and will be in full production by the end of the second quarter of 2005." ...

Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). Impinj is a leading contributor to the RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide and is leveraging its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver the GrandPrix™ solution, comprising tags, readers, software, systems integration and high-volume manufacturing to offer low-cost UHF RFID that just works. Impinj’s innovative SIP products, core to the company’s RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip.

Alien RFID Reseller STid ...

Alien Technology - Press Releases

... "STid, a multi-technology integrator specialized in sales of RFID readers, today announced a reseller agreement for Alien Technology RFID reader and tag products. Under the agreement, STid will distribute Alien products on a non-exclusive basis in Europe, Mexico and South America." ...

Founded in 1996, STid has specialized in Contactless Identification Technology, and designs, develops and sales RFID readers to target access control, traceability and logistics markets. Its unique market approach based on its technological independence enables STid to offer the widest choice of products operating at the main frequencies (125 kHz, 13.56 MHz and UHF) and compliant with existing chip technologies (Mifare®, ST, INSIDE, EM) and international standards (ISO 15693, EPC, ISO 18000).

Alien Technology Corporation is a leading provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products for global customers in government, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and other industries. Using its patented manufacturing process, Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA®), Alien manufactures EPC tags in very high-volumes and at low cost. The company provides a family of RFID readers for a variety of applications including supply chain management, logistics, and anti-counterfeiting, to improve inventory management and reduce operating costs. Alien is an active member of EPCglobal.

RFID Reprogrammable Memory Logic

RFID Reprogrammable Logic: UMC and Virage Logic Announce Qualification of Embedded Non ...

Advances in electronics support the lowering of RFID costs ...

From PR Newswire (press release) ... "Design and application security, copy protection, Digital Rights Management and RFID all share the common requirement of small amounts of reprogrammable ...

... UMC (NYSE: UMC; TAIEX: 2303), world leading semiconductor foundry and Virage Logic Corp. (Nasdaq: VIRL), a leading provider of semiconductor IP platforms, announced the availability of Virage Logic's patented Non-Volatile Electrically Alterable (NOVeA) embedded memories for production on UMC's 0.18-micron (um) CMOS logic process. NOVeA is the industry's first commercially available embedded in system reprogrammable non-volatile memory (NVM) that is manufactured on a standard 0.18um CMOS logic process without any additional masks or process steps. ...

NOVeA employs a patented single poly floating gate Fowler-Nordheim technology for writing. NOVeA includes a powerful controller and instruction set in an architecture that provides 100% cell redundancy. The result is an extremely reliable, high yielding embedded NVM that can be manufactured on standard CMOS logic processes with ultra low manufacturing cost and power consumption. NOVeA RAM can be reprogrammed in-system up to 10,000 times, has specified endurance of 10 years and is designed for integration into deep submicron SoCs. The use of NOVeA and associated development tools and views provide users with a secure design solution while reducing overall SoC mask costs, silicon costs, design risk and design time.

UMC is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety of customer products, while Singapore-based UMC has just entered volume production. UMC employs over 8,500 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States.

Founded in 1996, Virage Logic Corporation rapidly established itself as a technology and market leader in providing advanced embedded memory intellectual property (IP) for the design of complex integrated circuits. Today the company is a global leader in semiconductor IP platforms comprising embedded memories, standard cells, and I/Os and is pioneering the development of a new class of IP called Silicon Aware IP. Silicon Aware IP tightly integrates Physical IP (memory, logic and I/Os) with the embedded test, diagnostic, and repair capabilities of Infrastructure IP to help ensure manufacturability and optimized yield at the advanced process nodes. Virage Logic's highly differentiated product portfolio provides higher performance, lower power, higher density and optimal yield to foundries, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless customers who develop products for the consumer, communications and networking, hand-held and portable, and computer and graphics markets. The company's comprehensive quality efforts are validated in its FirstPass-Silicon Characterization Lab, which helps ensure high quality, reliable IP across a wide range of foundries and process technologies. Headquartered in Fremont, California, Virage Logic has R&D, sales and support offices worldwide.

RFID Wireless Sensor Networks Vision ...

RFID Wireless Sensor Networks Vision: TI's Julie England Outlines Strategy to Drive Far-Reaching ...

TI offers a vision for wireless sensor networks built on RFID infrastructure ...

From PR Newswire (press release) ... TI Envisions RFID at the Edge of Evolving Wireless and Sensor Networks DALLAS, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- With the RFID market poised to surge from millions to ...

... With the RFID market poised to surge from millions to tens of billions of tags over the next five years, a critical mass of the technology will spur innovation and new applications across the enterprise value chain, said Julie England, vice president of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and general manager of TI's RFID business. Texas Instruments has the critical wireless competencies that extend from its number one analog chip position in cell phones to its 15 years of innovation in wireless RFID highlighted by application milestones in automotive anti-theft and library books, to the Exxon/Mobil Speedpass(TM) payment system. The company is nearing a production milestone of 500 million RFID tags and is gearing up to produce billions of chips, straps, inlays and reader modules for retail supply chain, contactless commerce and pharmaceutical applications. ...

Texas Instruments is the world's largest integrated manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders and reader systems. Capitalizing on its competencies in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics packaging, TI is a visionary leader and at the forefront of establishing new markets and international standards for RFID applications.

Flip-Chip: Enabling technologies and solutions for packaging of microsystems ...

Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging of Microwave, Optical and Digital Electronics (CAMPmode)-Enabling technologies and solutions for packaging of microsystems, including microelectronics

... "In this area, our focus is on concurrent electrical, thermal and mechanical modeling of flip-chip, ball grid array (BGA) and chip scale packaging technologies. Typical projects include (i) experimental and computational analysis of area array packages; (ii) solder self-alignment for packaging; (iii) thermosonic flip-chip bonding; (iv) novel metal-foam heat sinks for thermal management of electronic systems up to 100 W/cm2; and (v) characterization of laminate substrates for flip-chip and surface mount technologies." ...

RFID Library Labels Printed Silver Ink With Flip Chip ...

RFID Library Labels Printed Silver Ink With Flip Chip: ASK to Deliver 4 Million RFID Smart Labels for US and European ...

Unique RFID solutions for libraries support printed silver ink antennae and flip-chip labeling and are targeted for European and US library markets ...

From PR Newswire (press release) ... Bibliotheca and ASK Enter Strategic Partnership to Offer a Complete Library RFID System. ASK, a worldwide ...

... ASK, a worldwide leading manufacturer of RFID products, has been selected by Bibliotheca, Europe #1 RFID library system provider to supply C.label, a unique RFID smart paper label, to American and European public libraries. ASK labels are based on its core technology of a printed 13.56 Mhz silver ink antenna on paper and direct flip chip embedding process. A scalable and high volume capacity manufacturing chain combined with low cost materials offer librarians cost effective and reliable labels for books, CDs, DVDs and video tapes. ASK has already supplied specific labels and readers to more than 20 French, Italian and German libraries over the last 4 years and has therefore gained a valuable experience within this market segment. ...

Founded in 1997, ASK is today the leading supplier of a comprehensive range of contactless cards, tickets, RFID tags and readers, complying with ISO and EPC standards. They address the mass transit, access control and e-government ID markets as well as the supply chain and logistics market. 50 million RFID cards, tickets and labels are already in use worldwide. Manufacturing is located in Sophia-Antipolis, France. Local offices are based in Paris, Singapore, Taiwan and Westport, USA.

Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Bibliotheca is a leading provider of RFID technology products to libraries. Its installed systems manage the circulation and inventory of a combined total of nearly 40 million items. The company's American headquarters are located in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Bibliotheca designs, manufacturers and services RFID library systems through an international network of employees and distributors.

Noisy RFID Environments ...

Noisy RFID Environments: HP Unveils ''Noisy Lab'' for RFID Technology Development; Company ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced plans to open an RFID Noisy Lab in Omaha, Neb., next month to further the development of radio frequency ...

... HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced plans to open an RFID Noisy Lab in Omaha, Neb., next month to further the development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Announced at the National Retail Federation 94th Annual Convention and Expo, the HP facility will be one of the most comprehensive RFID labs in the industry, simulating a real-world manufacturing and distribution center where HP, its customers and its partners can pilot and evaluate RFID technology and solutions. ...

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2004, HP revenue totaled $79.9 billion.

Additional resources on RFID in noisy environments ...

RFID Reader Matrics Radio Frequency Identification RF Tags: read rate supplies the muscle to overcome interference in noisy environments, and to ... port reader designed for embedded applications, such as RFID printers and ...

RFID with Tagsys: and Power Levels The read range achieved in an RFID system is ... with the smart label - The coupler' sensitivity, especially in noisy environments - The smart ...

Impinj Readies A Next-Generation RFID Tag: For companies who haven't yet implemented RFID, Impinj recommends they start ... ZumaRFID chip, the Gen2 RainierRFID chip is designed for noisy environments and 32 ...

Secure RFID Chips for Payment Card Applications ...

Secure RFID Chips for Payment Card Applications: Texas Instruments to Deliver RFID Solution for MasterCard PayPass

From PR Newswire (press release) ... Texas Instruments today announced plans to deliver ISO/IEC 14443 compliant radio frequency identification (RFID) chips designed to meet the ...

... Texas Instruments today announced plans to deliver ISO/IEC 14443 compliant radio frequency identification (RFID) chips designed to meet the stringent security requirements for MasterCard International's PayPass(TM) line of RFID payment cards and tokens. TI expects to submit this product for MasterCard certification in the second quarter of 2005. Full production is planned to start in the second half of this year TI's new 13.56 MHz RFID chip is the latest to be introduced in a series of solutions based on the company's ISO/IEC 14443 technology platform. This proven platform features products with universally accepted and standardized cryptography, using National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) approved crypto algorithms, including Triple DES and SHA-1. ...

Texas Instruments is the world's largest integrated manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders and reader systems. Capitalizing on its competencies in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and microelectronics packaging, TI is a visionary leader and at the forefront of establishing new markets and international standards for RFID applications. Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN.

Additional resources on secure RFID chips for payment card applications ...

RFID Tags and Contactless Smart Card Technology: Comparing and: The on-chip intelligence uniquely enables systems that ... card technology for new secure identification and ... For additional information on how RFID and contactless ...

Infineon Technologies AG: Business Concept ... Secure Mobile Solutions offers an extensive line of ... health insurance cards) and payment cards (debit and ... and customer base with RFID chips for identification ...

DOI Buys 30,000 DESFire Chips: says the government has tested a number of other chips that meet the ... NASA, which began a DESFire-based smart card secure access program at an ...

RFID Successful Test Results: RFID Alliance Lab test RFID Labels 100% Readable

The RFID Alliance Lab received a roll with 105 pieces of Xtrack™ RFID Smart Labels in size 4” x 6” from Worldlabel.com for testing. The Smart labels were embedded with a Rafsec dipole design with EPC UHF Ucode 1.19 chip. Tests were performed at the University of Kansas under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Deavours, Director of Research at the RFID Alliance Lab and Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas.

Dr. Deavours issued the following statement on behalf of the RFID Alliance Lab. “On December 14, the Lab tested all 105 labels with a ThingMagic Mercury 4 reader from approximately 4 feet away. The Lab observed that all 105 labels were readable”

"The results should be interpreted narrowly," stated Dr. Deavours. “While we did not detect any "dead" tags, our procedure would not have detected any "quiet" tags, or any degregation in read performance.”
Worldlabel.com has a PCT patent pending application for a method of embedding RFID Tags to paper labels. An opinion by the International Search Authority has approved the method as novel and innovative.
“This is a benchmark no one else has achieved. We are positive we can embed any inlay into a paper labels and produce a roll of Xtrack™ RFID Smart Labels 100% readable with our method of converting” said Russell Ossendryver, USA director of Worldlabel.com and Innotech Resources PTE LTD in Singapore. Innotech Resources PTE LTD is a major label converter and has invented a method of embedding RFID tags to paper labels. Typically, about 20% of the RFID labels in rolls have defective chips and are not readable. Our system and methods of manufacturing increases the reliability and consistency of RFID labels to 100% readable.
For more information and data on our Xtrack™ RFID Smart Labels, please visit http://www.worldlabel.com/rfid/rfid.htm or contact:
Russell Ossendryver, 336 Convent Ave, NY, NY, 10031, USA. TEL: 212-234 5775

About the RFID Alliance Label - The RFID Alliance Lab, housed at the University of Kansas, is a not-for-profit testing facility that will provide objective benchmarking reports on RFID equipment Please contact info@rfidalliancelab.org for more information.

About Worldlabel.com - Worldlabel.com is a leading manufacturer of laser and inkjet sheet labels. Worldlabel.com has a presence in Asia through Innotech Resources PTE LTD in Singapore. Innotech Resources PTE LTD is a major converter of barcode labels and other pressure sensitive labels.

RFID Gen 2: Impinj Demonstrates Working Generation 2 RFID Technology

From Market Wire (press release) ... semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its high-performance Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products, today ...

... Impinj, Inc, the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its high-performance Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products, today announced a significant milestone in the advancement of RFID technology with its demonstration of prototype UHF Generation 2 products on December 2, 2004 at MET Laboratories, the certification partner of EPCglobal Inc™. Gen 2, the newest and most advanced of the EPCglobal RFID specifications for the UHF (ultra-high-frequency) band, is the preferred standard of many worldwide retailers. ...

Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon® technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). Impinj's semiconductor chips power high performance, enhanced-functionality RFID systems that fulfill the global mandates promulgated by the consumer packaged goods and retailing industries. The company is a leading contributor to the emerging RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide. Impinj's innovative SIP products, core to the company's RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide, allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's SIP products include the popular AEON™ memory, the world's first rewritable NVM technology compatible with logic CMOS manufacturing.

RFID Chips: Elan PCMCIA-to-UART Chip for RFID Cards

From Market Wire (press release) ... has created a single 64 Ball Grid Array PCMCIA-to-UART bridge chip, the VPU16551, which is proving to be ideally suited for the burgeoning RFID card market. ...

... Elan Digital Systems has created a single 64 Ball Grid Array PCMCIA-to-UART bridge chip, the VPU16551, which is proving to be ideally suited for the burgeoning RFID card market. A unique feature of this device is that data can be accessed simultaneously with an active COM port connection to the UART simply by connecting an SD Flash Card or SD controller to the parallel port of the VPU. ...

Elan is a specialist design house centred around PCMCIA. Their products and custom design services are used by a world-wide range of clients including tier 1 & 2 companies. Elan is a privately owned company which has gained unique experience over its 28 year history and uses the latest design & manufacturing technology which makes them one of the leading companies in their field worldwide. Elan has ISO9001 (2000) approval.

RFID Reader: SAMSys Announces Its New Class 0/0+ UHF Reader

From PR Newswire (press release) ... SAMSys Technologies Inc. (SMY: TSX), an international provider of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) hardware solutions and ...

... SAMSys Technologies Inc. (SMY: TSX), an international provider of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) hardware solutions and consulting services today announces that it has begun production of its new multi-protocol, multi-regional UHF reader, capable of reading Class 0 and Class 0+ tag protocols. These Class 0 protocols are deemed important to the EPC plans specified by the Wal(x)Mart's RFID compliance initiative with its top 100 suppliers, subject to begin in January, 2005. Wal(x)Mart has stated that it will accept Class 0, Class 0+ and Class 1 tags that were under development as standards for the RFID industry's first major supply chain compliance initiative. SAMSys adds this new version of the UHF MP9320 V2.7 reader to its current RFID reader family that supports Class 1, ISO 18000-6A, ISO 18000-6B, Philips UCODE 1.19, EM 4222 and Intellitag. ...

SAMSys Technologies Inc. (SAMSys), founded in 1995, is a world-leading provider of radio frequency identification (RFID) hardware solutions and RFID integration consulting services designed to evaluate and recommend optimal RFID solutions to enhance existing business process. SAMSys offers a family of products to simplify the installation and ensure the ongoing performance of the overall RFID hardware infrastructure. SAMSys is a public company whose shares are listed for trading on the TSX Exchange under the symbol: "SMY". The Company has a total of 46.1 million shares outstanding. Impinj, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon(R) technology enables its two synergistic business lines: high performance RFID products and cost-effective semiconductor intellectual property (SIP). Impinj's semiconductor chips power high performance, enhanced-functionality RFID systems that fulfill the global mandates promulgated by the consumer packaged goods and retailing industries. The company is a leading contributor to the emerging RFID standards for high volume supply-chain applications worldwide. Impinj's innovative SIP products, core to the company's RFID tags, are licensed to leading semiconductor companies worldwide allowing them to cost-effectively integrate crucial nonvolatile memory (NVM) alongside analog and digital functionality on a single chip. Impinj's SIP products include the popular AEON(TM) memory, the world's first rewritable NVM technology compatible with logic CMOS
manufacturing.

RFID Sensors: New temp-tracking RFID label from KSW

From In Pharma, France - ... 05/07/2004 - German radio frequency identification technology company KSW Microtec is gearing up to launch a new RFID label for tracking supply chain integrity ...

... Only intelligent solutions ensure a long lasting improvements in efficiency of business processes. KSW Microtec focuses on the development and application of low cost advanced interconnection technologies for microelectronic packaging solutions. The innovation potential of KSW Microtec, latest production equipment, the patents held by KSW and the latest intelligent product solutions like active smart label underline this goal. All this makes KSW Microtec an internationally interesting business partner. KSW Microtec offers just the right active and passive Smart Label solutions. Choose from a broad variety of standard RFID products as well as custom specific solutions. KSW Microtec offers efficient manufacturing and extensive development capacities. KSW Microtec produces passive RFID Inlays based on an in-house developed technology. KSW Microtec manufactures besides standard Smart Label Inlays also Inlays which are adapted in its size, its chip and its substrate to the conditions of their final application. KSW Microtec is specialized in the area of Flip Chip assembly, with different types of Adhesive Flip Chip technologies available. Most modern bumping technologies, wafer dicing equipment, assembly equipment of the latest generation as well as our motivated team is the base of KSW's success ...

Contactless Smart Cards: SMIC Aims at CE with Contactless Smart Cards

From Reed Electronics Group, CA ... charge for the consumer electronics market, announcing the development and immediate availability of 0.35-micron EEPROM-based contactless smart card technology ...

SMIC is a pure-play IC foundry that offers 0.35μm to 0.13μm IC manufacturing services. Established in 2000, SMIC is headquartered in Shanghai and has three 8-inch fabs including a dedicated copper backend line there. SMIC acquired its fourth 8-inch fab facility, Fab 7, located in Tianjin. The foundry is also building a 12-inch wafer facility in Beijing. In May 2003, our Fab 1 was one of the two recipients of the "Top Fab of the Year for 2003" by Semiconductor International, a leading publication in the semiconductor industry. SMIC's technology capabilities include logic, mixed signal/RF, high-voltage circuits, system-on-chip, embedded and other memories LCoS and CIS among others . Key to SMIC's rapid technology development and excellent fab management is a strong R&D team made up of experienced engineers from North America, Europe and Asia, and a network of leading international technology and manufacturing partners.

Healthcare RFID: Precision Dynamics Corporation to Showcase Multi-Function RFID ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC), a global leader in automatic wristband identification and developers of the Smart Band(R) RFID Wristband System, will ...

With nearly 50 years of experience, PDC is the global leader and pacesetter in the development of automatic identification wristband systems and quality healthcare products. The company introduced the first patient bar code ID wristband in 1984 and radio frequency identification (RFID) wristbands in 2000. PDC also provides premium healthcare products for labor & delivery, urology, and other applications. PDC is committed to 100% quality in service, design, and manufacturing. This is substantiated by their ISO-9001: 2000 and ISO-13485 certification at their main facility in San Fernando, CA. Plans to establish certification at their new facility in Tijuana, Mexico are underway. For more information, visit www.pdcorp.com.

Combining a micro-chip and antenna, RFID provides wireless communication for safe and accurate ID, tracking, and processing. No other system better ensures the integrity of information between user, host device, and/or Information System. The wireless, automated, and secure process of RFID ensures positive patient identification and fully streamlined operations. No other system better ensures the integrity of information between patient, host device, and/or Hospital Information System (HIS). PDC's Smart Band RFID Wristband System acts as a portable, dynamic database that carries patient information to be used and updated during the patient's stay.

RFID Wearable Computer: NetworkAnatomy Activates Responder Communications Solutions for ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... The CommanderGauntlet(TM) is an arm-worn communications device with interchangeable options for RFID, cellular and PDA functions to support all professional ...

The mission of NetworkAnatomy is to design, build and deploy highly advanced, integrated and interoperable communication systems across all industries, and to support the growing need for such systems across all continents. We apply our knowledge of global network anatomies, telematics, field operations, telecommunication technologies, specialized software applications, audio and video systems, and ruggedization to advances in computing technologies, optics, materials, chip sets, and manufacturing processes to deliver the most innovative, reliable and usable systems globally.

RFID Smart Cards: Oberthur Wins First GSA Contract for Issuance of Secure ID Smart ...

From Business Wire (press release), CA ... With its unique supply chain management expertise, from security printing, to smart card manufacturing and mass issuance, Oberthur is ideally positioned to ...

ID-One™ Advanced ID solutions for governments. Portable, secure and standardized, smart cards have proven to be the best available solutions to provide fast and reliable verification of a citizen's identity, while protecting the privacy of the individual. Accumulating its leadership in smart cards with a unique expertise in security printing and personal identification documents, Oberthur Card Systems is better positioned than any other actor on the market to support governments deploying smart identification systems. AuthentIC™ is a complete range of advanced, flexible and highly secure cryptographic solutions adressing the needs of B2B and B2C markets for secure network access (authentication) and online payment. Designed to support different technologies, these solutions are readily adaptable to different environments, systems and devices. They are particularly suited for the implementation and management of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) architectures.

ID-One™ smart cards are based on Oberthur Card Systems' open platforms, featuring on-board applications dedicated to identity and e-government services. ID-One smart cards are based on the latest evolution of Cosmo cards, Oberthur Card Systems' platform offer. Implementing Java Card™ and GlobalPlatform industry standards, Cosmo cards offer from 32 to 64k of EEPROM, with dual interface chip allowing the card to be used in contactless mode. Cosmo cards are also ready for biometrics applications, supporting the standard API from the Biometric Consortium. The applets available with ID-One Cosmo provide all the necessary cryptographic services to perform PKI (RSA) related operations and secured data storage functions for identity, password, credential or other sensitive data. RSA keys can be loaded or generated on-board for added security. DES or 3DES functions are also provided to perform encryption/decryption and can be used to perform challenge/response operations. When Java is not required, Oberthur Card Systems is able to offer alternatives such as MULTOS™ platforms or specification-based mask development.

RFID Solutions: TAGSYS and NEC team to deploy RFID solutions

From Frontline Today, ... TAGSYS a provider of RFID tags and readers operating at 13.56MHz will collaborate with NEC on the deployment of RFID systems for large-scale projects with an initial focus on Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia. The alliance between NEC Solutions Asia Pacific NECSAP and TAGSYS allows the two companies to leverage each other's strengths in providing their customers with a comprehensive set of RFID solutions consultancy services and customer service support ...

TAGSYS has been designing and manufacturing innovative, high-performance and cost-effective RFID systems (chips, tags, antennas and reading stations) for over fifteen years. TAGSYS has today the longest experience in implementing field-proven passive RFID systems operating at 13.56 MHz and UHF frequencies.
With over 40 million RFID tags, ten thousand RFID reader systems and 500 installations worldwide, TAGSYS has emerged as the world’s leading dedicated RFID supplier. TAGSYS draws its strength from a long history of technological innovations and advancements

TAGSYS produces two types of “universal” reader platforms that the company modifies to develop application specific readers. "Universal" means that they can read most RFID chips in the market operating at 13.56MHz. Both platforms include state of the art DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology. Both platforms also allow for rapid development of new algorithms to read 13.56 MHz chips from other manufacturers which alleviate customers' concerns regarding obsolescence. Reader types include: OEM readers -- easy to package in any low read range RFID reader or station. TAGSYS OEM readers are currently integrated in more than 15 handheld terminals and printers. Long range readers -- capable of delivering up to 7 watts output power on 4 channels. They allow the development of complex stations with several antennas and 3D algorithms for reading and writing tags in multiple orientations.

NEC's membership in EPCglobal will enable the company to participate in the process of standard creation, to join in RFID-related trials, which the organization executes, and to share advanced technologies. NEC, together with NEC Electronics Corporation and NEC Solutions (America) will initially participate in activities of creating global standards for EPC and gather necessary information and develop RFID-based solution businesses targeting the retail market in Japan and the U.S. Then, NEC and its affiliated companies plan to expand their businesses to other markets in other areas.

NEC established the RFID Business Promotion Center in January of this year with 300 employees, developing a comprehensive RFID solution business that includes from chip supply to system integration. NEC has engaged in the construction of asset management systems and logistical management systems such as logistics system of Japan Freight Railway Company.

NEC is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $40 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2004.

RFID Chip: NanoPierce JV Scimaxx Solutions Announces Bumpless Flip Chip ...

From Business Wire (press release) ... We have been focused on two key applications: RFID which need the simplest and fastest manufacturing process possible to meet cost targets; and specialized ...

RFID Chips: HEI, Inc. Closes Manufacturing Agreement

From PR Newswire (press release) ... systems, connectivity and software solutions for OEMs engaged in the medical equipment and medical device, hearing, communications and RFID industries. ...

HEI offers turnkey RFID solutions including module assemblies, standard and custom tags, readers and integrated software packages. For over 35 years, HEI has produced reliable high performance chip assemblies. We now provide you with a responsive and cost effective domestic supply of total RFID solutions—both hardware and software.

HEI is a full service developer and manufacturer of high performance components, medical software, medical devices, and non-medical products. HEI produces microcircuits and subsystems for hearing and medical applications, communications, and high-speed data processing. Products include Class I, II and III medical devices, biotechnology, drug discovery, and in vitro diagnostics systems, and RFID identification technologies for both healthcare and industry.

RFID Chips: HEI, Inc. Closes Manufacturing Agreement

From PR Newswire (press release) ... systems, connectivity and software solutions for OEMs engaged in the medical equipment and medical device, hearing, communications and RFID industries. ...

HEI offers turnkey RFID solutions including module assemblies, standard and custom tags, readers and integrated software packages. For over 35 years, HEI has produced reliable high performance chip assemblies. We now provide you with a responsive and cost effective domestic supply of total RFID solutions—both hardware and software.

HEI is a full service developer and manufacturer of high performance components, medical software, medical devices, and non-medical products. HEI produces microcircuits and subsystems for hearing and medical applications, communications, and high-speed data processing. Products include Class I, II and III medical devices, biotechnology, drug discovery, and in vitro diagnostics systems, and RFID identification technologies for both healthcare and industry.

RFID Components: HEI, Inc. Closes Manufacturing Agreement

From PR Newswire (press release) ... systems, connectivity and software solutions for OEMs engaged in the medical equipment and medical device, hearing, communications and RFID industries. ...

HEI offers turnkey RFID solutions including module assemblies, standard and custom tags, readers and integrated software packages. For over 35 years, HEI has produced reliable high performance chip assemblies. We now provide you with a responsive and cost effective domestic supply of total RFID solutions—both hardware and software.

HEI is a full service developer and manufacturer of high performance components, medical software, medical devices, and non-medical products. HEI produces microcircuits and subsystems for hearing and medical applications, communications, and high-speed data processing. Products include Class I, II and III medical devices, biotechnology, drug discovery, and in vitro diagnostics systems, and RFID identification technologies for both healthcare and industry.

RFID System: Maxell Corporation Brings Benefits of Smaller Footprint 13.56 MHz ...

From Business Wire (press release) ... America today announced a significant market expansion into the life sciences industry, with new customer engagements and the launch of its RFID-embedded test ...

...With Maxell's original Electro Fine Forming technology, the Coil-on-Chip RFID System is a radio-frequency identification system, featuring a precision, uniform-thickness antenna coil directly mounted on the surface of a tiny 2.5mm-square chip. When compared to conventional products, the Coil-on-Chip RFID system features lower cost, smaller size, and less deterioration through contact. Furthermore, this system can be attached on or embedded in various small objects...

Precision antenna coils mounted on the chip surface
With Maxell's original Electro Fine Forming technology, highly precise antenna coils can be mounted directly on the surface of silicon wafers. When compared to conventional 50mm-square contactless chips having external antenna coils, Coil-on-Chip RFID systems rarely malfunction due to deterioration of contacts or mechanical stress, because there is no external soldering connection between the antenna coils and the chips.

Applicable to various products and packaging
Compact, RFID chips can be attached to various materials having various shapes such as cards, coin-shaped tokens, mini-mold,etc .Because of their easy embedding and attachment, contactless IC chips feature a wide variety of applications to meet users'need.

Maxell’s Coil-on-Chip RFID system provides a wide variety of lineups ranging from those with memory capacity of 128 bytes up to 4K bytes, including the ME-Y2000 series, the latest addition to its lineup. Users have a wide range of options to choose from to configure for their most suitable user applications.
Reader/Writer modules supporting the ME-Y2000 series can also access the ME-Y1001 chip, allowing you to intermingle various types of chips...

Various types of Reader/Writer modules are available for Maxell’s Coil-on-Chip RFID system. Users have a wide range of options to choose from depending on their required specifications for each application, such as types of host interfaces, communication distance, power consumption, number of antenna channels, etc. It is also easy to quickly incorporate these systems into equipment, such as inspection machines, printers, copying machines, measuring instruments, game machines, and other manufacturing equipment...

Since its foundation in 1960, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. has led the electronics industry at home and abroad in the fields of storage media and batteries. The Company boasts best-in-class technologies and development capabilities in these two core business fields, and as a result Maxell products are well regarded all over the world.

Business conditions are becoming more conducive to the realization of ubiquitous communications in global society. Ubiquitous networks are becoming irreplaceable not only in corporate business activities, but in our daily lives as well, working unobtrusively in the background as we benefit from this communications infrastructure. Moreover, ubiquitous networks enable the creation of new communities, opening up limitless possibilities.

Maxell is combining its core technologies in batteries and storage media to spur the organic growth of a new business in mobile communications devices. We believe that our technologies and products, borne of these core competencies, contribute to a higher standard of living the world over. Polishing our strengths, and based on our "Memory and Mobility" slogan, we will carry on with conscious reforms and restructuring while adopting new perspectives to remain a company trusted and supported by society, today and in future generations. Maxell makes every effort to continually increase the reliability of its products through technology.

RFID Technology: Passive RFID running on 200 microwatt RF

UsingRFID.com, UK ... The South African RFID technology developer, Trolley Scan, has announced the development of new materials that enable the production of transponders in volume ...

TROLLEYSCAN DELIVER PASSIVE UHF RFID TRANSPONDERS THAT OPERATE ON JUST 200 MICROWATTS OF RF POWER, JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA

Trolley Scan announced in Johannesburg that they have crossed another major technical hurdle in the development of long range, efficent, low cost, passive RFID systems.

As part of leading the way in the development of passive UHF RFID, Trolley Scan have developed new materials that allow for the production of transponders in volume that need just 200uW of RF energy to operate. This represents a 42% improvement in the sensitivity of transponders supplied by Trolley Scan in the past. All credit card sized Ecochiptag(TM) transponders supplied by Trolley Scan will now need only 200uW of power to operate.

Said Mike Marsh, MD of Trolley Scan-"Improving transponder sensitivity is like improving fuel consumption for a car - you can never have enough!!!. Every time the sensitivity improves, it means that the transmitted power of the reader can be further reduced needing smaller transmitters to do the same job with longer battery life, -, or the operating range of the transponder system increases. The new production transponders can be read 8 meters from a reader radiating just 300 milliwatts of power, similar to the power radiated from a cell phone. In addition, due to the miniscual amount of power needed to operate the transponder, polarisation becomes less important and transponders can be read on almost any orientation even with linear polarised antennas. The 8 meter range is achievable even if the transponder is attached to metal."

In 1994 a state of the art transponder used in the original Supertag version developed by a team led by Mike Marsh, and shown to the world with a trolley(cart) of 38 items being scanned at the Pick n Pay hypermarket in Pretoria South Africa, needed 6000uW of RF power to operate. In 2001 Trolley Scan started delivering 1000uW versions with its evaluation systems. In December 2003, Trolley Scan delivered 350uW credit card sized versions, a major technical achievement as the previous systems all needed 160mm dipoles while the credit card sized version was only 80mm long - a size that is inherently inefficient at this operating frequency. Now the norm with the latest developments is 200uW in a credit card sized version.

Comparing the performance to the original Supertag tests, the transmitter power needed now is only 3% of that needed for the original system, meaning smaller transmitters, longer battery life and portable readers. The operating range at the original power used for Supertag is 550% of the ranges then achieved.

Despite the benefits of long operating range and low transmitter power, the Trolley Scan has maintained all its important benefits such as wide operating bandwidth (50MHz for EU/GSM/US compatibility), up to 500 multiple transponders in the reading field, 3D scanning small antenna size and easy to produce.

Trolley Scan provide RFID systems to users in 32 countries. Complete systems can be ordered via their website.

About new generation RFID Transponder
Passive RFID works by the reader sending out a low power beam of energy which dissipates with distance travelled; part of which is collected by the transponder and converted to power to operate the transponder; the transponder using some of this energy to send back its identity data on the same frequency as the energising signal.

The reader has to be able to detect the data from the transponder while in the presence of the energising signal which is powering up the transponder. The two signals differ is strength by up to 1 billion times (90dB).

As the energy from the reader travels through the space between the reader and the transponder, it dissipates such that every time the distance doubles, the available energy to power up the transponder quarters. Therefore producing transponders that need lower power mean they can still operate at increased ranges.

About EcoTag technology
The Ecotag development achieves some major breakthroughs

The credit card sized version is a technology breakthrough allowing both very efficient transponder operation while allowing small transponder antenna sizes.

A typical efficient UHF antenna will be 160mm long. However the market wants shorter antennas that are closer to the sizing of goods being labelled. Shortening a 160 millimeter antenna to 80 millimeters results in only 3% of the efficiency being left. The impact of shortening antennas is of great concern to the UHF RFID producers as the challenge is to increase efficiency in order to get greater coverage and range. Trolley Scan have developed an 80mm by 37mm flat antenna that recovers this lost efficiency as well as increasing the performance of the chip, allowing a transponder that now needs only 200 uWatts of RF energy to operate, making it one of the most energy efficient transponders available in the world.

Despite its excellent performance, the credit card sized version is produced in a single plane and is ideal for production using conductive inks applied with a printing press. This is an important development as eventually for volume application of RFID, the antennae are going to be made directly on the packaging.

The new Ecotag credit sized version now can operate at ranges as far as 11 meters, even when attahed to metal.

EcoTag technology is protected by a series of patents granted in the US, Europe and other countries.

About Trolley Scan (Pty) Ltd
Trolley Scan have proven to be a major creative force in the development of UHF RFID technologies. These developments have been protected by patents which have been offered to the global manufacturing industry to impliment. Founded in 1995, the staff of Trolley Scan have a pedigree that goes back to 1990 when the first low cost RFID protocol was developed by the founder while working for a South African government research organisation, culminating in 1994 in the demonstration of a supermarket trolley containing 38 items being scanned automatically in a supermarket in Pretoria. In 1998, the founders of Trolley Scan developed an entirely new set of protocols for UHF RFID which they have been actively promoting. They also have addressed the situation of the 3 dimensional scanning of goods, and have developed a very low power RFID version which they commercialise under the EcoTag trademark. Trolley Scan are based in Johannesburg South Africa.

Trolley Scan licence their patents and technology to companies around the world who wish to produce this technology. Trolley Scan have already provided systems using this technology to users in 32 countries.

About UHF RFID
RFID systems comprise of a transponder that is attached to the goods to be identified and a reader that converts the information in those transponders to a computer compatible format for processing. The transponder can comprise of a simple antenna and a small integrated circuit that can be produced at low cost. Operating in the 860 to 930 MHz (UHF) band, the transponder can be identified meters away from the reader, can be identified in a group with up to 1000 other transponders when being read, and can be identified very quickly. In view of the system using radio waves for energy and information transfer, it is not necessary for the transponder and reader to be in line of sight.

Potential use of these systems is extensive, from herd animal tracking, library books, pallets, warehousing, bank and postal bags, asset tracking, airline luggage, vehicle monitoring (access and parking), to intelligent buildings (tracking files, documents and assets moving around an office to minimise finding time).

The ultimate goal is to use these transponders with their inbuilt anti-shoplifting features to replace the barcodes labelling goods in a retail store allowing filled supermarket trolleys to be scanned in seconds in unmanned self service checkout aisles.

Microsoft RFID in Supply Chain

...Big software companies, like Microsoft, are backing the Auto-ID Center, a joint American/European organization that is setting RFID standards.

"We intend to make sure that all of our products related to inventory, retail management, manufacturing, distribution and point-of-sale include built-in support for RFID technology," says Satya Nadella, corporate vice president in the Microsoft Business Solutions Group.

Deploying RFID solutions that are connected to business management solutions will be straightforward plug and play. Still, the solutions won't show their full potential until RFID has been widely adopted...

The Microsoft RFID Council

Bringing Together Major Partners Delivering RFID Solutions on the Microsoft Platform, Microsoft Announces New RFID Council

REDMOND, Wash., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp.
(Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced the formation of a new Microsoft Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) Council focused on RFID technology. The group
will look at RFID requirements and how to take advantage of today's technology
to make it easier for retailers and manufacturers to track and ship
merchandise. The company also highlighted a growing ecosystem of partners that
are building innovative RFID solutions on the Microsoft(R) platform to enhance
control of key business processes, improve inventory visibility and provide
better customer service for manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )
RFID combines the benefits of the silicon chip and radio frequencies to
provide increased levels of product and asset visibility across the supply
chain. Microsoft is providing a platform on which partners can create RFID
solutions to enable their customers to reduce human error in data collection,
reduce inventories and improve product availability, while at the same time
respecting the privacy expectations and concerns around the use of RFID
technology. The company plans to hold the first Microsoft RFID Council meeting
in April and already has several partners, including Accenture, GlobeRanger
Corp., HighJump Software, Intermec Technologies Corp., Manhattan Associates
Inc. and Provia Software Inc., signed up to participate. As a part of the
Microsoft RFID Council, Microsoft and partners plan to address industry needs
for RFID solutions that are low-cost, simple to deploy and built on a robust
scalable technology stack.
"With RFID in the early stages of adoption, we are continuing to expand
and evolve our partner-driven strategy based on the needs of the industry,"
said Javed Sikander, program manager for RFID strategy at Microsoft. "There is
a wide spectrum of partners building RFID solutions on the Microsoft platform
today; the formation of the Microsoft RFID Council is part of our commitment
to continue to work closely with our customers and partners to ensure they
receive the greatest value and opportunity when building their RFID solutions
with Microsoft technologies."
An ecosystem of partners -- spanning RFID hardware vendors, supply chain
execution retail systems and services providers -- is using the Microsoft
platform today to add value to their RFID solutions through Microsoft
technologies such as Microsoft Windows(R) CE, SQL Server(TM) and BizTalk(R)
Server for collection, management and integration of RFID data. These partners
also are working with Visual Studio(R) and Web Services Enhancements (WSE) for
Microsoft .NET to create Web services-enabled RFID solutions. Microsoft
Business Solutions is also working with RFID partners to extend the
capabilities of financial management and supply chain management solutions for small and midsize businesses.

Microsoft also announced it has joined EPCglobal, an organization that is
leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic
Product Code (EPC) Network to support the use of RFID. "RFID is a major initiative for the METRO Group," said Zygmunt Mierdorf, executive vice president for IT and Human Resources at METRO Group. "METRO
will use a number of platforms and is very pleased Microsoft has joined
EPCglobal and is making significant investments to make this technology
available using open standard technologies. Microsoft is working with the
METRO Group to support this first large implementation."

Independent software vendors (ISVs) and technology companies announcing
their support for the Microsoft platform and highlighting the solutions they
are delivering today include the following:

-- Accenture. Accenture is working with Microsoft and Manhattan Associates
to develop a new solution that will help manufacturers comply quickly
with retailers' RFID mandates. The companies will provide a full range
of Electronic Product Code (EPC)-compliant, scalable RFID solution
design, development and integration services that will help
manufacturers realize rapid benefits, including enhanced supply chain
efficiencies and improved warehouse management.

-- GlobeRanger. GlobeRanger provides an innovative Edgeware(TM) platform,
iMotion(TM), that is designed to intelligently connect core enterprise
systems with relevant, real-time RFID information. Built on the
Microsoft .NET Framework, iMotion delivers the ability to manage edge
devices, networks, data and business processes seamlessly.

-- HighJump Software, a 3M Company. HighJump provides a broad collection
of highly configurable, RFID-enabled solutions built on the Microsoft
platform that empower customers to meet a full spectrum of RFID
requirements and manage ever-evolving supply chain processes without
disrupting current supply chain operations.

-- Intermec Technologies Corp. Intermec draws on the utilities and
resources available through the Microsoft Pocket PC platform for the
company's 700 Color Series of rugged, mobile devices with attachable
IP3 RFID handle. The IP3 adds fully functional RFID reader capabilities
to the 700. Both devices are integrated into Intermec's RFID "Ready to
Go" kit, which includes RFID hardware, software and professional
services -- allowing customers to begin implementing RFID into their
own systems.

-- Manhattan Associates Inc. Manhattan Associates is leveraging the
Microsoft platform as a powerful and flexible platform for its
cutting-edge RFID solutions. The company's RFID in a Box(TM) solution
offers a package of source-to-consumption supply chain execution
applications, professional services and RFID technology to simplify
implementation and enable companies to meet compliance requirements
while leveraging the most comprehensive integrated logistics platform
and solutions.

-- METRO Group. Germany-based retailer METRO Group will begin to roll out
RFID across four of its six divisions in November 2004. METRO has been
successfully piloting RFID in its Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany,
and in other locations, and is now ready to take the challenge to move
from pilot to production.

-- Provia Software Inc. Provia Software uses the Microsoft platform to
enable customers to implement supply chain execution and optimization
solutions including RFID-enabled warehousing, transportation, order and
yard management. These solutions seamlessly integrate with Web-based
visibility tools to create a real-time, end-to-end supply chain
execution solution.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services
and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

NOTE: Microsoft, Windows, BizTalk and Visual Studio are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other
countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Innovative RFID Solutions on the Microsoft Platform

"The potential of RFID combined with retailer mandates make it a question
of when -- not if -- manufacturers will implement the technology into their
organizations. The next 18 months will be the critical period of adoption, and
industry leaders are looking beyond compliance to use RFID as a source of
competitive advantage."
Lyle Ginsburg
Partner, Technology Innovation
Products Operating Group
Accenture

"GlobeRanger delivers the ability to easily develop, deploy and integrate
RFID and mobile solutions for the edge of the enterprise. Powered by the
Microsoft .NET Framework, GlobeRanger's iMotion platform provides the
foundation that enterprise users are looking for to scale standards-compliant
RFID solutions from pilot to full implementation."

John Koenigs
President and CEO
GlobeRanger Corp.

"HighJump provides a broad collection of highly configurable, RFID-enabled
solutions that empower customers to meet a full spectrum of RFID requirements and manage ever-evolving supply chain processes without jeopardizing their operational efficiency, profitability or ability to meet customer
expectations. HighJump fully leverages Microsoft technologies throughout its
RFID solution to facilitate integration and ensure flexibility and scalability
in complex, high-volume manufacturing and distribution environments."

Chris Heim
President
HighJump Software, a 3M Company

"Intermec has added instant RFID capability to its 700 Color Series of
rugged, mobile devices by offering the Intermec IP3 handle reader as an
attachment. With the powerful backbone of Microsoft's Pocket PC and immediate RFID reader capacity, customers now are able to easily integrate RFID into their enterprise systems."
Mike Colwell
Vice President
Intermec

"As a charter member of EPCglobal, Manhattan Associates has continued to
stay at the forefront of providing innovative business and compliance
solutions that solve supply chain execution challenges for manufacturers,
distributors, retailers and their trading partners. Manhattan Associates' RFID
in a Box(TM) solution and our RFID-enabled applications, combined with
Microsoft's powerful and flexible platform, provide our customers with both
stability and ease of deployment. Our joint solutions are enabling companies
worldwide to meet RFID compliance requirements and handle large transactional
volumes."
Eric Peters
Executive Vice President,
Strategy and Business Development
Manhattan Associates

"RFID compliance requirements are quickly evolving. For Provia's RFIDware
product, Microsoft's .NET Platform was the logical choice. It allowed us to
develop a robust solution quickly while providing the flexibly and ease of use
necessary to keep up with these evolving requirements. All our supply chain
execution and optimization solutions deploy rapidly and effectively on the
Microsoft platform today, and we are excited to strengthen our Microsoft .NET
support with the release of RFIDware."
Todd Gage
Vice President
Product Development
Provia Software