Johannesburg, 07 Apr 2017
RFID equipment revenue - transponders, readers, software and services - is expected to double to $22 billion by 2020!
As an integral layer of the Internet of things (IOT), RFID has regained its space as an important and growing technology for the future.
Nina Turner, a research manager at IDC, notes that while RFID failed to live up to its lofty initial expectations, "its future is far from hopeless".
Being able to tag, read and know the what, where and when of an item is what makes IOT so powerful. RFID tags connect many of these items at the end of the chain to the network, the last mile you, could say. There is almost nothing you cannot elegantly and effectively RFID tag today, even the traditionally underperforming read rates on liquids and metals due to interference are a thing of the past.
Virtually all IOT applications possess a common element: connecting the physical and digital worlds. RFID bridges these realms by supplying data that identifies a specific object at an exact place and time. "You interrogate the tag, and it responds with an identifier so you get a unique identification," says Phil Gerskovich, senior vice-president for new growth platforms for Zebra Technologies, an RFID device manufacturer headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois. "That most basic level of interaction has always been a part of RFID and is very compatible with the Internet of things."
Bringing the physical and digital world together has always been a key philosophy at Cradle Technology Services and this reflects in both our warehouse management software, Granite WMS (www.granitewms.com), which provides a real world granular view of inventory for Sage's Evolution and ERP300 ERP solutions, and Cradle's Physical Asset Management services and solutions provide for more efficient asset management, improving accuracy, saving time and reducing costs. See www.assetscanning.com for more about tagging, software and services.
Near field communications is another newer technology that is gaining traction as a last-mile information linking standard. NFC is a version of RFID that works in a more finely honed fashion with a maximum range of about 10 centimetres, and can be set up for one- or two-way communications.
Both of these technologies are exciting growth areas and are opening fantastic new possibilities for IOT.
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