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IBM Affirms RFID Commitment

IBM Corp. on Tuesday launched new radio frequency identification software and services, making its intentions to support the RFID market perfectly clear.

An asset tracking application, IBM WebSphere Premises Server software upgrade, and 50,000-square-foot RFID test center in Dublin, Ireland are among the launches announced at RFID World in Dallas, Texas.

Since many RFID deployments are within manufacturing sites, IBM's WebSphere Premises Server V1.1 software upgrade is designed to keep up with high-speed facilities, such as a pharmaceutical company that tags items on the production line.

Customers running the new software in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) can more closely align RFID projects to business goals. SOA allows information from RFID tags, including inventory, shipping and billing data, to link with applications and flow through a customer's IT infrastructure as well as integrate with suppliers.

Building the platform on an open standard J2EE infrastructure provides easy integration with applications. "Just having RFID data that tells what goods were shipped through the portal isn't too helpful," said Ann Breidenbach, director, Sensor & Actuator Solutions Product Line Management & Strategy at IBM. "You've got the information on a server, and that's nice, but it's nicer if you can link it to your shipping or order entry applications."

The IBM WebSphere Premises Server V1.1 software ensures reliable delivery of messages between devices and the Premises Server, as well as between the Premises Server and WebSphere business integration products.

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