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Sun Microsystems bullish about RFID
Abhinav Singh / Bangalore
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Vijay Sarathy,
group marketing manager, Sun RFID Business Unit, Sun Microsystems |
Sun Microsystems is upbeat about RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
technology. It has executed several projects in the RFID space in the recent
past for customers such as Goodyear, Narita Airport (Tokyo), Coles Myers and
the US Navy. Sun Microsystems, which has been active in the RFID space since
1999, has a test centre at Texas in the US for the purpose of running test projects
in the RFID space for its customers. This centre meets specific standard requirements
stipulated by Wal-Mart and the US Department of Defence. Sun Microsystems is
hopeful that many Indian companies who are part of the international supply
chain supplying products to the US retail major Wal-Mart are expected to adopt
this technology.
Vijay Sarathy, group marketing manager, Sun RFID Business Unit, Sun Microsystems
says, Many companies are now experimenting with the RFID technology and
want to test it before investing. One of the important challenges in this space
is to integrate all the RFID-related data in the tag and the readers to the
backend system running in an organisation. Sun has experimented with the technology
at its own manufacturing facility in California as it wanted accuracy in transfer
of material."
Sun Microsystems is offering its Sun Java System RFID Software
which is responsible for collecting data from the readers, ctivating it and
integrating it with the supply chain and the ERP systems in an organisation.
Sarathy explains, "This software is suitable for harsh environmental conditions
and was designed with the aim of helping the US Navy which operates in rugged
conditions. The warehouse environment is also similar in nature with temperature
variations." The RFID Software contains two primary components namely the
RFID Event Manager and the RFID Information Server which help in acting as a
communication channel between the RFID system (tags and the readers etc) and
the backend systems (ERP and SCM etc).
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