Oracle RFID: Oracle Previews Next Release of Oracle E-Business Suite

From CPILive.net, United Arab Emirates ... One example of the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i.10 industry enhancements is the new capabilities for radio frequency identification (RFID), also announced today ...

With Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), companies can more accurately track assets and monitor key indicators, gain greater visibility into their operations, and make decisions based on real-time information. RFID is just one type of sensor-based technology; others include moisture, light, temperature, and vibration sensors. Increasingly, RFID tags are being combined with sensors and tracking technologies like GPS to give companies greater visibility into their supply chains for reduced risk and optimized business processes.

Oracle Sensor-Based Services are a comprehensive set of capabilities to capture, manage, analyze, access, and respond to data from sensors such as RFID, location, and temperature. Based on Oracle Database 10g, Oracle Application Server 10g, Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, and Oracle E-Business Suite 11i, Oracle Sensor-Based Services enable companies to quickly and easily integrate sensor-based information into their enterprise systems. Oracle’s solution includes a Compliance package, an RFID pilot kit, and integrated support in Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Application Server.

As the retail industry gears up for RFID (radio frequency identification) mandates from major retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart, Oracle is in lock step with CPG industry initiatives. Oracle delivered on its promise that the next version of Oracle Warehouse Management would be RFID-ready. The Compliance module will include a prebuilt compliance application to allow companies to address the specific and unique reporting requirements coming down from the major retailers and the Department of Defense. The Pilot Kit
allows smaller companies to test RFID with a light-weight solution that includes drivers for the major RFID readers, plus reporting and analytic tools to process RFID data. The new version of Oracle Warehouse Management will enable pallet- and case-level tagging for automatic processing of inbound and outbound shipments. With Oracle's new capabilities, companies will be able to easily identify, track and manage pallets and cases as they move through the supply chain. The improved order visibility will enable organizations to make more informed decisions about production, inventory stock, delivery promise dates, and quickly adapt to fluctuating market demands. Additionally, the automated, real-time tracking capabilities will help improve security and cut costs associated with manual processes.

Oracle Warehouse Management uses both Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Application Server 10g to efficiently and securely move and manage RFID data. By taking advantage of Oracle's data management expertise, Oracle Warehouse Management customers will be able to track, store and manipulate RFID in real-time, without compromising security, high availability and performance. Additionally, companies using Oracle 10g products to manage RFID data are able to identify hidden trends and patterns in order fulfillment, uncover new cost reduction opportunities and reduce business risks.

RFID, technology that includes tags and reader devices that use radio waves to automatically identify items, continues to gain momentum with suppliers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers for its ability to eliminate line-of-site processes - such as manual bar code scanning - and automate critical supply chain transactions. EPC, a new numbering scheme for identifying products in the supply chain, is gaining widespread acceptance as an emerging standard. In addition to Wal-Mart, the Department of Defense also issued a mandate to its top suppliers to incorporate RFID tags in all pallet shipments by 2005. These industry initiatives are expected to help grow the global RFID market to $3 billion by 2007, according to the Wireless Data Research Group.