Thursday, September 15, 2005

AT&T Does RFID

From RFID Weblog AT&T launches trail of RFID service

I think this is a big deal. Up until now brands, manufacturers and service companies have announced their entry into the RFID space. This is the first "service provider" that has done so.

Remember, every RFID tag will eventually have its own IP address and be considered a webpage of sorts. Verisign will be in charge of assigning web addresses, but what company will provide the "browser" that can surf the Net using an RFID tag as an identifier?

AT&T today also announced that it has joined EPCglobal US, an affiliate of EPCglobal Inc, serving subscribers in the United States to help foster the adoption of the EPCglobal Network™ and related technology.

The EPCglobal Network combines RFID technology, existing communications network infrastructure, and the Electronic Product Code (EPC) to enable accurate, cost-efficient visibility of information in the supply chain.

During the 90-day RFID service trials, AT&T will design, deploy and manage integrated, end-to-end RFID solutions, which extend from AT&T’s IP network and Internet Data Centers into customer-premises infrastructure, including RFID readers, edge devices and software, local area networks, firewalls and routers

3 comments:

Anita Campbell said...

Yes, big news indeed.

A year ago had you asked me, I would have said the Internet of Things was a decade or more away.

But the pace of adoption of some of these technologies is so accelerated, I think we will start seeing areas of "wireless clouds" within which many items will be tagged -- well within a decade.

Anonymous said...

Microsoft?

No Name said...

Well Microsoft signed a deal with Symbol that could lead to Microsfot be developing an RFID browser?

There is a key component that is missing.

Imagine if you had the IP that resolved every hyperlink for the PC. That would be invaluable.

Your mouse clicks on a hyperlink and you're directed to the proper site. The only problem is what the PC user sees and what "code" is behind the hyperlink are two different things. The mouse needs a resolver.

The same thing will happen with an RFID tag. When a RFID tag scanner, or cell-phone scans an RFID tag, THERE WILL be a URL associated with it. The technology that "resolves" the tag and directs the scanner will be invaluable too.