SAP, Intel join forces for RFID technology

HANOVER, Germany: Software maker SAP and microchip maker Intel Corp. are to work together to encourage companies to adopt radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, the companies said.

The two companies said the collaboration would allow firms to integrate data collected from RFID chips, which are attached to objects to track them, either directly into Intel-based servers or through SAP's Netweaver software platform.

In a statement at the Cebit electronics fair in Hanover, they said the joint effort "aims to make RFID technology easier to use and help companies overcome the common hurdles they face in creating viable business cases for RFID implementations".

RFID technology is more than half a century old and offers the theoretical possibility of tracking all objects in existence by linking them into information systems, but high costs and technology integration problems have prevented mass adoption.

The technology is used by some large retailers such as WalMart and Metro to make their supply chains more efficient.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, has also been quietly campaigning on the political front to ward off opposition from groups concerned that RFID will make new methods of privacy invasion possible.