IBM Press room - IBM Launches RFID Technology to Extract Business Insight and Drive Value From Mounting RFID Data

27 Mar 2007
Today, at the RFID World Conference, IBM will unveil Radio Frequency Identification software that unlocks business insight from the information explosion created by RFID tags embedded throughout the supply chain, empowering companies to identify entirely new business opportunities and breaking through to the next phase in the evolution of RFID.

The new WebSphere RFID Premises Server 6.0 aggregates and analyzes massive amounts of RFID and other sensor information from every corner of an enterprise. It then applies built-in business logic, and leveraging a Services Oriented Architecture, integrates that valuable raw data with enterprise applications, such as ERP or billing systems. This open architecture means that data can be seamlessly connected with business processes, allowing companies to use and capitalize on RFID.

Later, in racy style for IBM, the press release says: "Data that was once money left on the floor can be transformed into unanticipated revenue opportunities." This would be the shop floor, presumably, or that of the loading bay. They are right, though. Data about and from RFID devices can be an important ingredient in composing the ongoing story of an organization's resources and processes.

IBM has some words on the subject in Beyond the bar code and in this position paper. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has some less cheering words about extending the use of RFID tags beyond the industrial zone.

(RFID, as you probably know, stands for radio frequency identification. The "D" is pointless, as in ID. )