Recap: RFID Journal LIVE! 2014 & RFID World Asia 2014
Part I in a series recapping what we learnt at RFID Journal LIVE! 2014 & RFID World Asia 2014 from Paul Bennett, Relegen’s Managing Director
Hello everyone,
April 2014 was a very busy month for Relegen! We attended the world’s two largest RFID exhibitions – RFID Journal LIVE! 2014 in the US, and RFID World Asia 2014 in Singapore. And, because we’ve brought back such allot of news, we’ll be sharing the highlights over a series of posts.
At Relegen, we always keep a close eye on where RFID technology is headed. And, because our customer implementations are always so diverse, we thought it time to revisit the marketplace, listen to the experiences of industry participants, including end-users, and talk to a multitude of vendors.
I’m pleased to say that whilst Australia can be a long way from the action in a geographical sense, we are certainly not lagging in terms of innovative RFID projects and implementations. In fact, I would argue that our uptake of the technology, and understanding of the business improvements RFID can deliver, rival the best in the world.
Over the course of RFID Journal LIVE! 2014 alone, there were about 50+ presentations, and we managed to get along to quite a few of them. From those we attended, some of my key takeaways were:
1. It’s all about the data
RFID technology itself doesn’t give your business a competitive edge, rather it’s what you do with the data that will propel your business forward. Kimberly Brayley, Director RTLS Project Management Office, of the US Veterans Health Administration, put it very well when she said we need to regard RFID technology purely as infrastructure – infrastructure that supports business process improvement. Her advice was to “Worry less about whose technology you buy, or what type it is [E.g. Wi-Fi, IR, 900MHz], but rather how you use it! Data, data, data…”
2. The ‘Internet of Things’ is big and it’s already here
The Internet of Things [IoT] has captured the attention and imagination of businesses and consumers. Steve Halliday, President, of High Tech Aid, referenced in his presentation:
- Janusz Bryzek, VP, Fairchild Semiconductor – the ability to connect just about anything is ‘potentially the biggest business opportunity in the history of people’
- Information Age magazine [http://www.information-age.com] – 74% of C-level executives in medium to large companies expect the IoT to play a large role in their business within the next 3 years
- John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems Inc. – The ‘Internet of Everything’, that is connected products, ranging from cars to household goods – could be a US$19 trillion opportunity
3. Key enablers of the IoT will be RFID and GUIDs
- Global unique asset identification is critical. No unique RFID/ID = no visibility. Unique serialisation is the soul of asset and item-level identification and business need to address this issue early on
- RFID technology will provide the link between what is happening in the physical world [i.e. the factory, distribution centre, retail store] and the corporate centres where the business decisions are being made. RFID data will feed corporate information systems with real-world information
Stay tuned for more on these topics over the next few weeks. Of course in the meantime, if there’s anything specific you’re interested in, please get in touch with me on +61 (0)2 9998 9000 and I’ll be happy to share.
Best regards, Paul Bennett, Managing Director, Relegen Pty Ltd