Trimble snaps up ThingMagic

Trimble Navigation, a US-based provider of GPS devices, has acquired ThingMagic, a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers, reports RFID Journal.

The company will use the acquisition to add RFID technology to its portfolio, enabling it to offer a wider range of tracking solutions to its existing worldwide customer base.

Initially, Trimble will focus on RFID-enabled solutions for the mobile resource management market, as well as in the construction and utilities sectors.

Australian airline, Qantas, has signed a four-year deal with Unisys to roll out an RFID-enabled baggage reconciliation system to track and verify luggage at its domestic terminal in Sydney, states RFID News.

RFID technology allows a bag to be quickly identified and tracked, as well as eliminates the need for passengers to print a new bag tag each time they fly.

This system is as part of Qantas' Next Generation Check-in set to be released in Sydney later this year, and Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra in 2011.

Transport group Piston in the Philippines has slammed what it calls an attempt to further delay the refund of the Land Transportation Office's (LTO) shelved RFID project, says ABS CBN News.

Piston official George San Mateo says the Commission on Audit has already ordered the immediate release of RFID fees collected by the LTO.

The agency has yet to secure the signature of its IT partner, Stradcom, regarding the refund. Stradcom, however, has yet to approve the refund as the company filed a motion for clarification before the supreme court on its decision to stop the project.