RFID: Radio Frequency Identification review

Wendy M Grossman ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 15 Jun 2005

It will be the best of technologies; it will be the worst of technologies. Like all technology, RFID arrives surrounded by hype. And like nanotechnology and human cloning, it also arrives with fear. RFID, as Steven Shepard says at the beginning of his book on the subject, offers to streamline and simplify the supply chain. It also offers to provide far more detailed information than has ever been available before about consumers' buying habits -- and therefore to help retailers promote their wares with unprecedented precision. With the US planning to include RFID chips in new passports beginning later this year, you can see why privacy advocates are concerned.

A large part of RFID's immediate future is in replacing the bar code -- more correctly known as the 'Universal Product Code' -- found on everything you buy these days. Shepard takes advantage of this fact to rehearse in detail the history of stock control methods. Yet it's relevant: today's users of inventory control systems demand more information per code, such as expiry dates and points of origin for foods. Besides, barcodes can smudge, fade, or get damaged.

After that, and a brief history of RIFD chips from their beginnings in the military, Shepard spends most of his time discussing the present and future. Today, RFID chips are already used in road toll payment systems, public transport and livestock identification. The middle section of this book is dedicated to explaining in detail how RFID works technically: the various types available, how they're used, and how they function at every networking layer. From there, Shepard moves into a discussion of the uses of RFID and its prospective applications in streamlining domestic chores, managing hazardous waste, vehicle identification and, of course, supply chain management.

The last section of the book is devoted to the business implications of RFID. In the US, a heavy push to use RFID has come from Wal-Mart, which announced in 2003 that all its suppliers would have to use RFID tagging by 2005. The company later modified its requirement to pallet- and case-level, instead of item-level, tagging by 2006. Even that modified plan, according to Forrester Research, will cost each supplier $9 million to install the technology and maintain it for the first year. But for best results, a company may need to spend as much as $100 million to install RFID tagging and tracking throughout its processes. When is it worth it? In the last section, Shepard attempts to analyse costs and processes to answer that question. He finishes up with a list of manufacturers of RFID products.

The one area Shepard skimps on are the many privacy concerns that have been raised about RFID tagging. He does sketch them out briefly, but seems to regard them as irrelevant except insofar as they affect customer acceptance. This book was written before various countries announced plans to put RFID chips in passports and visa documents, which have raised both technical and privacy concerns.

• 
• 
• 
• 

• Share this article:
• Digg
• Slashdot
• Del.ici.ous
• Stumble
• Reddit