As most everyone knows, the “RF” in RFID stands for radio frequency, and radio is anything but a new technology. What is new is a dramatically more cost-effective collection of technologies, and nascent standards around EPC (Electronic Product Code) developed for several industries.

While RFID is incredibly dynamic and flexible, a typical EPC based program involves the use of “passive” tags on shipping cartons and pallets. (“Passive” tags do not have batteries; “active” tags are powered.) These tags are encoded with a number that identifies the supplier of the case, a code that identifies the contents of the case (shampoo, motor oil, etc), and a serial number that uniquely identifies the case. That last is important to understand—because it is a major change from the existing UPC barcode system, which identifies manufacturer and item. Tags are often embedded in a new kind of label for cartons (traditional labels with their many barcodes are printed on a sticky label that has an RFID tag inside of it).

Tags are not enough to make an RFID program work, however. Printers and label applicators are required to “commission” a tag (i.e., program the tag with its unique identifier), and readers are needed at any point where the tag must be “read” (“reading” requires sending a signal that powers the tag and lets it respond with its unique identifier). Readers are usually deployed at “transition points” such as the doors of a loading dock or the door that separates the back of a store from the front.

The last major category of technology is where GXS has directed its effort—the software infrastructure to connect all of the information collected by RFID to existing operational systems. GXS groups it into three categories:

As part of its standardization effort, EPCGlobal (a division of the GS1 Organization) has brought together experts from many industries to define standards for communicating with readers, printers, tags, and so on. There are standards for tag creation, for telling readers to read (or not to), and for sending information about “application level events” (ALE). What all these standards have in common is that they are new, and existing applications have no implementations.

A major challenge for new EPC/RFID initiatives is delivering value to offset the initial costs. The challenge is that the greatest value is achieved when all trading partners are participating in the EPC network (with readers deployed, reading and communicating). Until that day, the best option is to combine the substantial existing capabilities of traditional electronic commerce with the new RFID infrastructure.

Foundational to the EPC vision is the notion that when a reader scans a tag, it either recognizes the EPC, or can rapidly determine what the product is by querying a repository. Tags must contain accurate information (meaning the EPC matches the contents of the carton or pallet), but every system that processes that EPC must also have the same information. This is the job of the Global Data Synchronization Network—and without it the value of EPC cannot be realized.