Wednesday, March 28. 2007

RFID Tracking Coming of Age

CMP (a media company that runs tech conferences, among other things) awarded "the first RFID Excellence in Business Awards" at its RFID World 2007 event in Dallas. The winners were in health care, delivery, technology, and conservation (World Wildlife Fund). The big ideas to take away (or at those highlighted in the press release):

honorees achieved 30 to 50 percent reductions in inventory and labor costs, respectively; 100 percent tag read rates despite temperature and humidity challenges and a 100 times reduction in cost compared with a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking option.

Which of those is most compelling to a potential user? Reduced costs? Accuracy? Or cost compared to another widely used technology?

The fact that these are the first set of awards suggests that the industry is mature enough for such a competition. There's a parallel, I guess, with the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge, now a few years old. Winners are to be announced today for that one.

- Press release