Issue #143 | Apr. 25, 2008 | by Andy Kowl

The buzz was strong at last week’s RFID Journal Live conference. Spring is here and the RFID industry is sprouting growth all over. Great new product introductions were on display throughout the show floor.

More than ever, RFID suppliers were talking about ongoing work; but when you are in a trade show atmosphere, everyone must put their best face on and talk about the work they are doing.

Too often in recent years, there has been some blurring around the edges of these reports: pilots were implied to full implementation scale; and sales proposals were related as if they were projects underway. You can hardly blame anyone – to show weakness is death.

I’m easily impressed, so I’ve been amazed by the whiz-bang technology that has been introduced at all of the RFID shows these last five years. When you cover an industry of people who turn science fiction into reality, you can fall into the rut of, “Oh, another innovation that will truly change the world as we know it? What are we doing for dinner?”

What spoke to me was far more profound than any product introduction or triumphant contract win. It was the systemic reinvestment by smart global companies not dependent on RFID for their revenue.

The Wal-Mart barometer again
To be sure, the recent talk – and much talk last week at the Journal show – was about the Sam’s Club mandates. After all of the misinformation circulated about Wal-Mart’s flagship RFID usage these past few years, I hesitate to bring it up; but their expanding RFID usage, and purchasing, to their warehouse stores is the final nail in the coffin of all the naysayers who said Wal-Mart was pulling back.

If Sam is in, Wal-Mart is in. That means total implementation across the company because they are smart enough to know that anything less is foolish for them. Those who want to read how many stores they expand to any given month as if it were the Dow, best of luck.

But those who buy technology just need to know if it will work well enough for their own purposes. Companies that sell the technology, especially trudging through a slow market, must evaluate it and ask themselves, “We gave it a good shot. Should we leave this to others? Or is there really something here?”

The manufacturers double down
Microsoft decided they liked the RFID future they saw and introduced a product expansion with BizTalk RFID Mobile, intended to integrate real-time business information with a company’s core business practices. In February, they held their “first annual” RFID Solution Days. This is a company who has committed.

Then in hearing about this Microsoft thing, someone mentioned how Samsung is working on this with them. Samsung?! Where the hell did they come from? I own one of their TV’s and other stuff; they make good products. But I also pay attention to who manufactures RFID products and when did they show up?

Then I met a Chinese scientist last week who General Electric sent to Shanghai from California, where she had been living, to open an RFID test lab there. They see growth in RFID in China as an opportunity. GE? Where did they come from?! Of course, this is another smart company who has paid attention and realized this is one technology China is actually a big buyer of, as opposed to everything else, which China is thought of mostly as sellers of.

Motorola’s involvement in RFID you know, of course. After eating the smaller fish (Symbol) that ate the smaller fish (Matrics), RFID was, and is still, a splinter of business for Motorola. There had been wonder by some of how well Symbol was fitting into the mother ship. Their lead sponsorship of the trade show sent the message of commitment and growth.

Quick note: None of this is meant to infer smaller, RFID-centric companies do not make great contributions to the market. It is just that the RFID focused, often VC-backed, companies must grow their RFID offerings, because that is what they do. No surprise or market indicators there. I am just saying the investment decisions global titans make, who have no interest in being involved in small markets, indicate big things ahead.

A commitment in stripes
What to me is most telling of all is the way Zebra is expanding within this market. A leader in the industrial printer market, though shy of ‘titan’ status, Zebra is respected as a smart, competitive company. Last week I met with Mike Dempsey who joined Zebra when Navis was acquired a year ago, as were two other RFID players.

Mike explained the company’s plans include his division, which is the first implementation division Zebra has ever introduced. This company known for “moving boxes” has decided that, essentially for the first time in 40 years, they have found a technology they are so excited about they will not only sell product to the industry, they will commit to doing work from within the industry as a means to earnings growth.

This is a company that does not have the heft of a Microsoft or Motorola to just shrug and not think too hard about bad investment decisions. This is a company that has been in the thick of the RFID action from the beginning, and has voted along with the others, that they know RFID now has a solid foundation with the kind of growth that is unstoppable.