Share this on: Bridging the "Chasm" Between RFID Standards and Implementation Guidelines, tools and advisory services are available that provide a bridge to standards compliance—and business success. Recently, there have been discussions within the RFID industry regarding a theoretical chasm between RFID standards and their implementation. While one might quibble over whether “chasm” is really the right word, we at EPCglobal US agree that RFID implementers’ bandwidth to grasp standards falls short of what’s available to them, but those implementers, ideally, shouldn’t have to wrestle with the standards at all. Does the homeowner installing a new wireless router need to understand the IEEE 802.11 (a,b,g,n) standards to get online? No, and there are probably dozens of analogous (no pun intended) examples in which the implementer can remain blessedly ignorant of the standards that he or she is benefiting from. For RFID implementers to be able to focus on just the applications, they do need to have a few things in place though – most important, very precise technical standards that allow tags and readers to communicate, and allow users to understand the data on those tags and exchange visibility information with others. For those technical standards to be useable by the broadest possible number of industries and types of users, they tend to be long and detailed - just ask anyone who has worked on an EPCglobal, ISO or IEEE technical standard. Organizations like the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the Financial Services Technology Consortium, the Ag Gateway and others best serve their industries by taking those very complex technical standards and developing industry-specific guidelines for their use, much like the AIAG has done with their recently published B-11 standard and EPCglobal has done this fall with the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS)/RFID Guidelines for Retail. EPCglobal Inc (our global standards organization) is helping in these efforts by running certification programs for those complex, technical standards, so that companies implementing the Electronic Product Code (EPC) and RFID can easily find products that have been certified to comply with the standards. This brings us closer to “plug-and-play” for not only readers and tags, but also data capture and exchange software. Anyone wishing to see the current list of certified hardware and software products can do so at www.epcglobalinc.org/certification. EPCglobal US also helps to bridge the chasm by providing education on the use of our standards, as well as online tools and hands-on help for companies planning an EPC/RFID implementation. On-line tools include ROI models and a vendor search to find hardware, software and integration service providers who can make their plans a reality. In 2010, we plan to add a “standards-ready” certification for integrators and consultants here in the United States, as another way to close the gap between the standards and those who will benefit from them. Just like the consumer who plugs in the wireless router no longer thinks about the IEEE 802.11 standard, our goal is help close that chasm, so businesses can make use of our technical standards to improve their processes. The ultimate question we’re trying to help them answer is “Where’s my stuff?” – The standards, guidelines, tools and adoption services are there to help form the answer. For more information: Contact: Sue Hutchinson, Director, Industry Adoption, +1 609.620.4591, shutchinson@gs1us.org or Jim Mannion, Solutions Marketing Director, +1 609.620.8002, jmannion@gs1us.org
Share this on:
Bridging the "Chasm" Between RFID Standards and Implementation
Guidelines, tools and advisory services are available that provide a bridge to standards compliance—and business success.
Recently, there have been discussions within the RFID industry regarding a theoretical chasm between RFID standards and their implementation. While one might quibble over whether “chasm” is really the right word, we at EPCglobal US agree that RFID implementers’ bandwidth to grasp standards falls short of what’s available to them, but those implementers, ideally, shouldn’t have to wrestle with the standards at all. Does the homeowner installing a new wireless router need to understand the IEEE 802.11 (a,b,g,n) standards to get online? No, and there are probably dozens of analogous (no pun intended) examples in which the implementer can remain blessedly ignorant of the standards that he or she is benefiting from.
For RFID implementers to be able to focus on just the applications, they do need to have a few things in place though – most important, very precise technical standards that allow tags and readers to communicate, and allow users to understand the data on those tags and exchange visibility information with others. For those technical standards to be useable by the broadest possible number of industries and types of users, they tend to be long and detailed - just ask anyone who has worked on an EPCglobal, ISO or IEEE technical standard.
Organizations like the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the Financial Services Technology Consortium, the Ag Gateway and others best serve their industries by taking those very complex technical standards and developing industry-specific guidelines for their use, much like the AIAG has done with their recently published B-11 standard and EPCglobal has done this fall with the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS)/RFID Guidelines for Retail.
EPCglobal Inc (our global standards organization) is helping in these efforts by running certification programs for those complex, technical standards, so that companies implementing the Electronic Product Code (EPC) and RFID can easily find products that have been certified to comply with the standards. This brings us closer to “plug-and-play” for not only readers and tags, but also data capture and exchange software. Anyone wishing to see the current list of certified hardware and software products can do so at www.epcglobalinc.org/certification.
EPCglobal US also helps to bridge the chasm by providing education on the use of our standards, as well as online tools and hands-on help for companies planning an EPC/RFID implementation. On-line tools include ROI models and a vendor search to find hardware, software and integration service providers who can make their plans a reality. In 2010, we plan to add a “standards-ready” certification for integrators and consultants here in the United States, as another way to close the gap between the standards and those who will benefit from them.
Just like the consumer who plugs in the wireless router no longer thinks about the IEEE 802.11 standard, our goal is help close that chasm, so businesses can make use of our technical standards to improve their processes. The ultimate question we’re trying to help them answer is “Where’s my stuff?” – The standards, guidelines, tools and adoption services are there to help form the answer.
For more information:
Contact:
Sue Hutchinson, Director, Industry Adoption, +1 609.620.4591, shutchinson@gs1us.org or Jim Mannion, Solutions Marketing Director, +1 609.620.8002, jmannion@gs1us.org