EPCglobal ratifies standard for sharing RFID information

The ratification of EPCIS is viewed as a positive step toward wider adoption of RFID in the supply chain.

By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 4/18/2007

Companies using RFID tags and readers to capture data about their products now have a standardized way to share that data with their supply chain partners. EPCglobal announced this week it has ratified EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services), a standard that provides a common language for exchanging EPC data.

“Ratification of EPCIS is as much a milestone—if not more—than the ratification of EPC Gen 2 standards,” says Mike Liard, an RFID analyst for ABI Research. While the Gen2 standard was about RFID hardware, says Liard, the EPCIS standard is about creating entire RFID systems.

After Gen2 was ratified, EPC-compliant tags and readers came on the market. “Now we’re going to see EPC-compliant software solutions,” says Liard. And these software products should help increase RFID adoption, he says, because end users are always more comfortable buying standards-compliant products.

Alan Melling, a senior director of business development for Motorola, which makes RFID readers, says ratification of EPCIS is a positive development, but he isn’t expecting it to prompt an immediate uptick in RFID sales.

“I think EPCIS will have a positive impact in the long term,” he says. “I see RFID as a long-term play, and EPCIS is one more development that will help it grow.”

EPCIS is the last of three important standards to be developed by EPCglobal, according to Mike Meranda, president of EPCglobal North America. The first, he says, was the EPC Tag Data specification, which describes how to structure data on a tag. The second was the UHF Gen2 air-interface standard, which tells tags and readers how to talk to each other.

EPCIS provides a structured way to share data, says Meranda, and with its ratification the meaning of the term “RFID adoption” has changed. When he first started talking about companies adopting RFID, he says, “adoption” meant putting tags and readers in place; now it means sharing RFID data with other companies.

Meranda says he expects companies such as Wal-Mart and Proctor and Gamble to begin implementing EPCIS “within their four walls” right away and then to reach out and share EPC data with select trading partners.

“EPCIS is by far the most tested standard we’ve released yet,” he says. With rigorous testing already complete, he says, he is confident companies “will start connecting very easily.”