Free tech support and education the order of the day

• RFID Integration Solution Enablement, a graphical tool set for modeling RFID deployments;
• RFID Device Development Kit, a repository of tutorials and application programming interfaces; and
• Application Level Events (ALE) Preview for RFID, an environment for writing application programs.

The need for companies to master RFID development and support supply chain partners that have taken the plunge is the genesis behind free online access to tools and resources available now on the IBM alphaworks site.

A second wave of deployments "is pushing greater interest in RFID, and a good segment of that group is comprised of developers. The tools help them get their arms around the technology," says Chris Spencer, IBM alphaworks emerging technology strategist.

alphaworks offers these three software components:

Avery Dennison RFID is offering a free multimedia education tool, called RFID 101, to help individuals get up to speed on the basics of the technology.

Course content is largely based on customer experience, but also covers the history of the technology, its basic workings, the significance of electronic product code, implementation challenges, and the manufacturing of RFID inlays and finished tags.

"RFID is a complex subject and this presentation covers all the basics," says George Reynolds, VP of sales for Avery Dennison RFID. "RFID 101 is just one of many training and educational initiatives we offer to help manufacturers, retailers, systems integrators, and tag converters to understand, explain, and deploy RFID in the real world."

China continues to hold out prospects of developing a separate RFID standard, as first announced in 2003.

Such a standard out of China presents potential hurdles in establishing a single global standard in the long term. A separate standard also could lead to higher costs when attempting to create globally enabled supply chains.

But there are challenges confronting China if it goes it alone, including growing acceptance of the EPC Global Gen 2 standard—exemplified by the International Standards Organization's recent accommodation of Gen 2 within its specifications.

"It is natural that China wants to avoid code registration and management fees, protect local industry from royalty fees, and spur growth of local industry by setting up its own standard," says Junmei He, an analyst with Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based ABI Research. She acknowledges, however, that China's relative quietude on the issue may reflect its growing awareness for how difficult an international challenge it would face given increased acceptance of the Gen 2 standard.

The RFID Gen 2 inlay market is suddenly more crowded for Impinj, which had the space all to itself—that is, until a spate of announcements in late summer gave notice that others are jumping in.

Inlays are the silicon microchips that power passive RFID tags. In fairly close succession, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, and Philips Semiconductors all announced their new inlay offerings to the market. Impinj countered with announcement of new chips, jockeying against its new competitors with varied memory capabilities targeting differing application spaces.

"For more than a year, Impinj has been the sole supplier of Gen 2 tags, but now it is facing competition from larger, more established players, including NXP—founded by Phillips," says RFID Industry Analyst Sara Shah of Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based ABI Research. "A more competitive marketplace will encourage technology improvements and cause prices to drop."