Recently, we came across John R. Johnson's RFID Weekly blog. In this particular one, he highlights how RFID is hitting the big time with a focus from industry leaders like Bill Gates and DHL.
"If Wal-Mart's 2003 retail mandate was the shot heard around the world when it comes to radio-frequency technology, then the news that hit the market over the past several days represents the sector's perfect storm.
Just when the RFID industry appeared mired in an early summer lull, with most players on the sidelines awaiting the release of Gen 2 products, technology giant Microsoft rocked the industry by unveiling its strategy to enter the RFID market in 2006. As if that news weren't enough to jump start the RFID sector, consider that a veritable who's who of RFID heavy hitters also convened in Fayetteville, Ark., last week for the grand opening of a $2 million RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas (UA).
The perfect storm was completed this week when parcel express giant DHL told Information Week it planned to stamp RFID tags on all of the packages it ships by 2015. Trevor Peirce, RFID global program director for DHL, told RFIDWatch Weekly that DHL's parent company, Deutsche Post, had already invested several million dollars in RFID research.
While the convergence of these three events hints at an impending major rollout of RFID in the supply chain, clearly the biggest news is that Bill Gates is talking RFID ..."Clearly, as a member of the DC Velocity team, he understands the workings of industry and significance of more industry heavyweights getting involved. For John's full blog highlights,
click here.
Intellareturn agrees that the more awareness and adoption in the news, the better informed people will be about the value and potential of RFID. Just think: barcodes took some time to gain traction, but with the adoption of the UPC code as a standard in the late 1970s they became an everyday experience for most people.
With RFID, we're just at the beginning of a long ride. Stay tuned ...
