HANOVER, GERMANY - SAP and Intel have agreed to collaborate in developing technology that could someday pave the way for plug-and-play RFID (radio frequency identification) in the manufacturing, logistics and retailing sectors.
The companies announced the partnership at the Cebit trade show, which ended Wednesday.
At SAP's spacious booth on the fair grounds in Hanover, Germany, IDG News Service spoke with Christoph Lessmöllmann, director of supply chain management and RFID systems technology at SAP. Lessmöllmann discussed the companies' aim to provide more intelligence in RFID hardware and establish interfaces that will facilitate the flow of data to other systems in the supply chain.
IDGNS: What is the situation on the RFID standards front?
Lessmöllmann: If we look at the standards that have been issued to date by EPCglobal Inc. and ISO (International Standards Organization), they are a bare minimum for companies to invest in this technology. EPCglobal, for instance, has issued multiple standards, mostly recently the Generation 2 standard. The specification addresses, among other things, the air interface between the reader and the tag and the information written to the tag. Other standards are in work.
But the situation in the RFID market today is that there are many different vendors offering many different devices. Consequently, if a company doesn't purchase all its RFID equipment from the same supplier, it will need to monitor different systems and upgrade firmware on different types of devices.
IDGNS: International manufacturers and retailers like Proctor & Gamble Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. would like to see global RFID standards. Can we expect one set of RFID standards that apply worldwide or competing global standards, as we have today in the mobile phone industry?
Lessmöllmann: There is definitely an interest in establishing true global RFID standards to ensure interoperability of all devices. But we have regional differences, such as frequencies. The RFID frequency adopted in U.S., for instance, can't be used in Europe or Asia because it is already used in these regions for mobile phones. Europe also has other regulations, for instance on radiation control. So devices will need to be designed to accommodate these regional differences. China, by the way, is considering doing something of its own in the area of RFID.
IDGNS: What do you plan to achieve with Intel?
Lessmöllmann: With Intel, we intend to start a commodization process around RFID hardware and the use of RFID in the business processes. If you look at a RFID reader today, it contains many different individually made components. Intel intends to provide a chipset that will contain the integral part of the broadcasting and receiving unit and also the analog and frequency parts. The chipset, in turn, will have embedded intelligence to feed captured RFID data in a proper format to the various systems using this data.
IDGNS: And what is SAP's role in this partnership?
Lessmöllmann: We are working together on an interface, a handshake process.
IDGNS: Can you explain this?
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