China Telecom connects cars and IoT with mobile
A leader in digital security, Gemalto, and China Telecom, one of the largest operators in China with more than 190 million mobile subscribers, are developing a proof-of-concept for connected cars using Gemalto’s LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity (ODC) subscription management solution. The two companies present a demo at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai to show how remote ‘over-the-air’ provisioning can enable secure connectivity on mobile devices. Next, they will integrate this ODC solution on vehicles, paving the way for China Telecom’s auto-maker customers to offer instant connectivity on cars, anytime and anywhere. China has the world’s fastest-growing automotive market with 154 million car owners. Due to traffic congestion and other concerns such as driver safety, emergency assistance, and vehicle durability, there is an increasing demand for connected cars with advanced telematics, navigation, and safety features. The embedded SIMs will allow motorists to enjoy a safe and enjoyable drive, with the flexibility to choose or switch their service subscription throughout the entire lifecycle of their cars.
UHF RFID market to top $3b by 2020
The market for UHF RFID tags, readers and infrastructure will grow to more than $3 billion by 2020, driven by increased adoption in retail apparel and other applications. The forecast was provided by IDTechEx,saying the total market size for all frequencies of RFID in 2015 will approach $9.5 billion. The firm expects the total market to be valued at more than $14 billion by 2020, with UHF RFID accounting for half of the growth in the total market between now and 2020. Das says that 34 billion RFID tags (33 billion passive) have been sold since RFID began seeing limited use in 1943, with 7.5 billion consumed in 2014. Apparel tagging, which represents about 80 percent of market volume for passive RFID tags in 2015, will continue to see explosive growth. However, expansion into sectors such as asset management and logistics will shrink apparel’s share of the market to about 60 percent by 2018. In addition, retailers have already started to tag other product lines such as home goods, electronics and cosmetics. According to IDTechEx, 2.2 billion passive tags were used in retail apparel in 2013. That number grew to three billion in 2014 and 3.75 billion last year. Cumulatively, 9.2 billion RFID tags have been sold in the retail market for use in item level tagging and CPG case and pallet tagging. Nearly two million tags have been consumed by the manufacturing sector. By comparison, 560 million tags have been used for passport and secure document storage, while drugs and healthcare have consumed 400 million tags.
Sports retailer expands global RFID rollout with Nedap
French sporting goods retailer Decathlon continues its global rollout of RFID technology with a deployment in Croatia. The retailer has installed Nedap’s RFID solution in 15 countries, including 12 in Europe, Russia and China. Decathlon, which operates more than 600 stores, first announced its deployment in August 2013. Decathlon has deployed RFID gates like these from Nedap in more than 400 stores. Nedap says that Decathlon is the first retailer worldwide to use RFID in such a large geographical area. Nedap has supplied hybrid RF/RFID electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems at store exits for loss prevention purposes in 415 stores across 15 countries.
Like most retailers, Decathlon’s main driver to implement RFID is to increase inventory accuracy and avoid out-of-stocks. However, in order to further benefit from RFID, Decathlon is taking advantage of RFID tags on merchandise for loss prevention, allowing it to track merchandise from arrival until the moment it leaves the store. In addition, Decathlon secures selected items with a high theft risk with an additional RF hard tag.The solution Nedap provides consists of EAS systems with hybrid technology combining RF and RFID technology in one gate. Initially, all Nedap RF EAS gates that were installed prior to the RFID roll-out were upgraded to hybrid RF and RFID EAS systems by adding a clip-in RFID reader. All new stores are equipped with hybrid RF/RFID EAS from the day they open.
NXP and Stora Enso partner for intelligent packaging
A new partnership between NXP and Stora Enso seeks to accelerate the use of embedded RFID and NFC tags in packaging. Packaging provider Stora Enso and NXP Semiconductors have formed a partnership to develop intelligent packaging solutions designed to track packages through the supply chain and detect tampering. To accelerate adoption, the companies will open a new packaging Innovation Center in Helsinki later this year. By using NXP’s near field communication (NFC) and UHF RFID technologies, Stora Enso CEO Karl-Henrik Sundström envisions the day when smart packages can be easily tracked and traced through the entire supply chain, providing full end-to-end transparency. Commercial activity at Stora Enso’s MFC pre-commercial production plant at Imatra, Finland started early this year. The RFID-enabled solution will detect if the intelligent package has been tampered with en route to the consumer. Once in the hands of the consumer, the solution could provide additional information and interaction through NFC-enabled smart phones. This visibility and insight is critical for brands and major manufacturers to ensure their products are being shipped and handled correctly. For consumers the benefits are two-fold; the intelligent packaging will be able to verify the authenticity of the product and also provide care, usage and other important information via the NFC-enabled tag.
Target and Amazon unveil major RFID plans
Retail giant Target and online retailer Amazon have both recently unveiled ambitious RFID initiatives. Target’s goal is to deploy RFID to all 1,795 stores by the end of next year giving a strong signal that there is a solid business case for RFID among discount retailers. The rollout will likely consume more than one billion tags annually during year one. Target is spending $1 billion on supply chain and technology upgrades in 2015, and it appears RFID will consume a good portion of that budget. Target’s rollout is expected to be the largest retail deployment by the end of 2016. Initially, the retailer will tag times in three categories, including women’s apparel, baby and kids clothing and home décor. Target will tag women’s and children’s apparel at all 1,795 stores by the end of next year.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s decision to team up with the RFID Lab at Auburn could have major implications. Amazon will begin working with the RFID Lab next month to research how to best tag items as they enter the DC, and potential use cases for how to use those tagged items before they are shipped to customers.The goal is to discover new processes for RFID within Amazon’s vast supply chain, which includes 100 distribution centers around the globe.