"Tag, You're It" 
CIO (02/15/03) Vol. 16, No. 9, P. 84; Edwards, John 

Slowly but surely, enterprises are finding it easier and cheaper to 
track and manage assets through radio frequency identification (RFID) 
technology, in which products and other items are equipped with 
electronic tags containing ID data that can be read remotely.  

RFID technology reduces the need for human intervention, provides data 
more efficiently than bar codes (and can store more data as well), is 
reliable in extreme environments, and is unaffected by nearby objects, 
all of which can significantly increase business productivity while 
saving money.  

A chip and an antenna are embedded within RFID tags, which come 
in two varieties: Passive tags that have no batteries and whose 
transmission range usually extends to only a few feet, and larger, 
battery-powered active tags that can transmit data from hundreds 
of feet away.  

The growth of the RFID market has been slow, and Gartner analyst Jeff 
Woods attributes this to the technology's high costs, differing global 
radio frequencies, and a lack of standards. However, these issues are 
being addressed--industry experts expect RFID products to become 
compatible in a few years; costs are falling thanks to the technology's 
maturation; and vendors and governments are collaborating on RFID and 
frequency standards. "I don't think we're going to see a tidal wave in 
2003 of RFID adoption, but I do think we'll see some really encouraging 
stuff going on," says Woods.  

One of the drawbacks of RFID is that it often requires a multi-level 
restructuring of the company that adopts it, but this can work to the 
adopter's advantage through outsourcing and other arrangements. As 
RFID tags become smaller and cheaper, they will be incorporated into 
more and more everyday products, according to industry observers.  

Potential applications include the tracking of mail, pets, and children, 
as well as crowd control and ID counterfeiting prevention.  

http://www.cio.com/archive/021503/et_article.html

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Copyright 2003, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.  

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Cheers, Steve..

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