VIII Auto-ID Board Meeting Proves to be a Landmark Event
Over 83 companies, including eight new sponsors, gathered to attend the Auto-ID Center's 8th Board Meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts on November 12 & 13. This landmark event saw the first live demonstrations of the new UHF and HF EPC™ compliant cheap tags and agile readers.


Prototype Cheap Tag Demo From Philips, Tagsys, Alien and Matrics
Kevin Ashton, Executive Director, opened the board meeting saying "it's time for a little less conversation and a little more action -we are done talking, this meeting is all about action, all about showing what is really happening." True to his word the meeting was action packed with demonstration from a wide number of sponsors.

Professor Sanjay Sarma, Chairman of Research at the Auto-ID Center, demonstrated a prototype of the new Alien UHF tag, showing substantial read ranges, both with clear line of sight and interference. The gold standard for most end users is to be able to read an entire pallet of products as it is being wheeled through a dock door. Matt Reynolds of ThingMagic pulled a pallet of 60 cases of Gillette Venus Razor Blades through a wired dock door and read every case in an instant.

Philips Semiconductor introduced its new HF cheap tag prototype. "The plan to achieve a 5 cent label cost is clear, the realization requires a significant ramp up in volume", said Christoph Kauer, General Manager, Philips Semiconductor.

Tagsys also demonstrated a Smart Shelf that could read a shelf of shampoo bottles 5 products wide and 10 deep, reading all 50 tags in a matter of seconds.


Agile Readers Are Here
Bernd Schoner, Managing Partner from ThingMagic, demonstrated for the first time an agile reader that could read both UHF and HF tags. Bernd commented: "We have created readers that support UHF and HF and will soon support microwave."


Eight New Sponsors Join the Center Bringing Total Sponsors to 83
Abbott, Ahold, Nestle Purina and Toppan Forms all join the Board of Overseers, while AWID, British Telecom, Connectera, and GEA Consulting join the Technology Board.

Abbott Laboratories is a diversified health care company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets innovative products and services that span the continuum of care - from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and cure. Headquartered in north suburban Chicago, Abbott helps people around the world in the more than 130 countries.

Ahold is a European based, global food retailing company serving 40 million customers every week in 27 countries on four continents. Under local brand names, Ahold companies operate approximately 9,000 supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia. In the USA, Ahold oversees food retailer such as Stop & Shop and the on-line retailer Peapod.

Nestlé is not only Switzerland's largest industrial company, but it is also the world's largest food company. Nestle products are available in nearly every country around the world. Nestle Purina PetCare is a division of Nestle S.A. that manufactures pet products. The company's brands include Alpo, Cat Chow, Dog Chow, Friskies and Purina.

Toppan Forms Co. Ltd is a Japanese organization involved in producing and supporting business forms, office equipment and supplies, data print services, card equipment, digital printing, forms processors, data processing, system machines and networks.

AWID (Applied Wireless Identification Group, Inc) is a manufacturer of radio frequency identification products for use in the access control, vehicle identification and electronic article surveillance industries. AWID is a leading innovator of multi-protocol UHF RFID readers, manufacturer of the Pocket PC-based rugged handheld readers (MPR-1000), and will be releasing a family of Palm OS-based multi-protocol RFID readers (MPR-1500).

British Telecom (BT) is a provider of communications services and solutions for the UK and for corporate customers in Europe. It is the UK's largest communications service provider, providing service to residential and business markets. BT also provides tailored information technology (IT) solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger organizations in the private and public sectors.

ConnecTerra is a leading developer of architecture, standards, and software products for IP telemetry and control. ConnecTerra provides the first comprehensive platform for real-time, secure, bidirectional connectivity between enterprises and their globally distributed devices.

GEA Consulting works with major corporations in management consulting, providing extensive knowledge and insight in assisting and analyzing organizations to run effectively and efficiently. They consult in all managerial functions and offer strategic planning for business functions such as supply chain management, product development, cross border business and e-business.