“Imagination is the limit for RFID application”

During the Second World War, the Allied commanders were having a tough time
identifying friend from foe when it came to aircrafts. From ground, it was

virtually impossible to discern a Lutwaffe (German Air Force) Messerschmitt from

RAF's (Great Britain Royal Air Force) Spitfire; hence the anti-aircraft

batteries were not much of help. The problem was solved by ingenious British

scientists with the invention of IFF radio transponder. IFF stands for

identification friend or foe, and all the Allied aircrafts were fitted with one,

making it easier for ground troops to identify Lutwaffe planes, using radio

frequency. This was the precursor to the RFID (radio frequency identification)

tags that one finds at numerous malls spread across the global.






RFID has been around for quite sometime, but has been creating news in the past
few years only, all thanks to retail giant Wallmart. The technology is slowly

making a mark on the Indian landscape as well. The early adopters were suppliers

to international retail giants like Wallmart, etc. Now, Indian companies are

also actively evaluating the deployment of RFID on a mass scale. SAP offers a

quite a few integrated ERP solutions that are RFID enabled.






Krish Mantripada, director, Global Solution Strategy, RFID, SCM Solutions
Management, SAP, spoke to Shashwat Chaturvedi from CyberMedia News at the

recently held SAP Summit about the latest on RFID and his projections about the

future. Excerpts:









RFID has often been associated with the retail space only, though it promises
to do a lot more. Do you think the perception is changing?







Indeed it is. With increasing RFID adoption, enterprises are becoming more and
more aware about the possibilities that this technology presents. Currently,

more than 16 different industry verticals are actively using RFID, from the

manufacturing to pharmaceutical. Even many governments are employing the

technology for tracking and identification. Pretty soon US passports will carry

RFID tags. While it started off as a great retail industry tool, RFID has become

much bigger now.






RFID was termed as expensive, especially due to the prohibitive costs of the
tags. Has that changed?







The price for the tags has come down drastically. Currently they are hovering in
the 10-15 cents (US) per tag bracket. Sometime ago, the cost was around 50

cents. As the adoption spreads, the economies of scale will bring the cost

further down. Also, there has been a lot of innovation; some companies are

testing polymer-based tags instead of silicon. One firm is also testing

paper-based tags with the use of conductive inks.






Why has the Indian markets been largely untouched by the RFID revolution?





It is steadily changing. A lot of enterprises are evincing keen interest in the
technology. It is really surprising about how much people are aware about RFID.

In fact many firms are actively pursuing pilot projects. Indian markets would no

longer be untouched by the revolution.






Are you working with Indian companies on an RFID implementation?





A few leading companies are currently in the early stages of implementation.
Will be unable to share precise details as of now.






From which sector do these clients hail from? Is it retail only?







It is retail and manufacturing both.





Has SAP also tied up with any company in India for RFID?





We have tied up with TCS and Infosys as system integrators. There are more such
partnerships in the offing.






Isn't it strange, that while retail is the key driver behind the RFID
adoption, SAP does not have a major client in this space?








But we are actively working with all the retail majors. Consider this: a
majority of Wallmart and Home Depot suppliers are SAP customers. We are catering

to the RFID ecosystem.






There has also been talk about the emergence of RFID viruses, your views.





Yes, like every other technological innovation, there will be malafide users who
will try to misuse it. Similarly, counterchecks are evolving for RFID as well,

like firewalls, etc. that will detect malicious behavior and take preventive

actions. As we learn more and more, so will the protective measures evolve.






What are the innovative uses of RFID technology?





There are just so many, take for instance, in California, I just drive through
the Expressways, while the tollbooths capture the data with the use of RFID tag

and send me a monthly bill. Some hospitals are talking about tagging their

patients with RFID to ensure that correct medicine is given to the correct

patient. As mentioned earlier, a few countries are talking about RFID tagged

passports. Chinese authorities in Shanghai, used RFID to track slaughtered pigs.

Pharma companies are trying to curb counterfeit products with the help of RFID.

In fact, Nokia has come out with a few handsets that enable RFID authentication.

The application of RFID is only limited by your imagination.






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