The Four Hundred--RFID: Coming Soon to an Application Near You
: "RFID: Coming Soon to an Application Near You

by Mary Lou Roberts

Unless they hold places as direct links in the Wal-Mart or Department of Defense (DOD) supply chains, most iSeries shops have been sitting back and observing emerging RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Systems) technology with little more than passing curiosity. After all, if there's no behemoth retailer mandating that you put RFID tags on your products by some fast-approaching date, what's the worry?

Heads up. RFID may soon be coming to an application near you. RFID tags--tiny microchips that contain data and 'listen' for a radio signal that causes them to transmit a response--are piquing the imaginations of people in lots of lines of business, some of which are inventive, to say the least.

The first and most pervasive application, of course, is retail. That's the one that's been on the front pages since Wal-Mart (now joined by a number of other companies and the DOD) mandated that all of its suppliers will apply RFID tags at the pallet level. Everything coming into their stores will be read into a database that will track inventory and movement.

But that's old hat now. Let's consider the following other uses to which RFID is being applied:

Companies are attaching RFID tags to a variety of corporate assets, including computers, cell phones, PDAs, printers, and more. Companies like Stratum Global offer software that is designed to tag the assets or equipment, and then provide current location information, auditing and triggers for service and repair requirements.
Hospitals are using RFID tags in patient wristbands to make data more available at the bedside, freeing healthcare workers from additional data entry tasks, and presumably ensuring the validity and consistency of the information being collected.
Healthcare facilities also plan to use RFID for document tracking as well as tracking physical assets through their own supply chains, keeping more accurate watch on their inventories of all sorts of items, from bandages to needles, wheelchairs, bedpans, and more.

The financial industry, as well, is gearing up with RFID applications. According to Kip Jones, chief technologies for nuBridges, banks are using the tiny tags for cash tracking and for tracking bulk money movement. (Anyone thinking of robbing a Brinks truck had best beware. That bag may contain an RFID tag--and you won't be hard to find.)
Jones says that there's even talk of embedding RFID tags into currency (though at a nickel a tag, that application is not very practical right now). RFID-tagged bills, however, would make counting much easier and would certainly help to eliminate counterfeiting."