Gen II tags: No surprises here

The Gen II spec is performing exactly as advertised. That comes as no surprise to RFID vendors who say the spec was designed from the ground up for supply chain applications.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/23/2006

When it comes to RFID tags, the good news is that enough Gen II tags have been available to meet demand and that the tags are working just like they were designed to work. "That's not a surprise," says Chris Kelley, director of RFID business development for Intermec. "This was the first spec built upon a number of proven technologies married together to meet specific user requirements."

That's a shorthand way of saying the Gen II spec was designed with supply chain applications in mind. As proof, Gen II is quickly becoming the standard for case and pallet supply chain applications. "If you look at the major initiatives, they have either ceased to accept Class 0 and Class I tags or they soon will," says Matt Ream, senior manager of RFID systems for Zebra Technologies.

One early concern was whether silicon makers could produce enough silicon chips--the meat of an RFID tag--to meet the demand for Gen II tags. That's because until recently, Impinj was the only producer manufacturing Gen II chips. Those concerns were unfounded. "We've been shipping tens of millions of units per month to label makers," says Bill Colleran, Impinj's president and CEO. And while Impinj by itself has kept up with market demand, both TI and STMicroelectronics are now producing silicon for Gen II chips. That could result in lower prices and more options down the road.

Now that the market has accepted the Gen II standard, a bifurcation is taking place. "First, there's a commodity product that meets the Gen II specification," says Justin Hotard, director of product management for Symbol. "Then, there's an emerging market for higher value chips that include additional memory, additional security features, alternative forms for asset tracking or item-level tagging and temperature sensors for the cold chain."