CONTACT:
Nancy Gores (608) 265-3299,
nagores@wisc.edu
www.uwebi.org/2004conference
MADISON, WI – The UW E-Business Institute will preview a new RFID Lab at the 7th annual E-Business Best Practices and Emerging Technologies Conference Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wis.
Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is a term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. It will fundamentally change the way companies track and trace products and inventory through their supply chain.
“We created the lab because this technology will impact a great number of Wisconsin manufacturers and suppliers,” said Dr. Raj Veeramani, a professor of engineering and business at UW-Madison and director of the UW E-Business Institute. “Although RFID offers distinct advantages over traditional barcode technology, there are many questions that remain to be answered and many limitations to be overcome.”
According to RFID Journal, a leading technology magazine, virtually every company on earth will be required to use RFID in one way or another to remain competitive in the global market. It’s being adopted in a wide variety of industries, including aircraft manufacturing, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, defense, homeland security and retail. It’s being used not only for tracking goods in the supply chain but also to reduce counterfeiting of high-end products, such as pharmaceutical drugs, to track baggage in airports and medical supplies in hospitals, and as a payment system.
“The UW RFID Lab will have readers, tags, and software from a variety of leading technology vendors. This will give us the ability to conduct unbiased research to understand the true capabilities of this technology, and provide companies a valuable sandbox to learn about and experiment with RFID through hands-on workshops and sponsored projects,” said Veeramani.
This year’s E-Business Best Practices & Emerging Technologies Conference features presentations by national business leaders from Cisco Systems, Dell, IBM, Yahoo!, complemented by visionary speakers and afternoon tracks in information security, marketing, and supply chain management.
The UW RFID Lab is located in the new Engineering Centers Building at the UW-Madison campus. The lab was made possible through the leadership contribution and support of RedPrairie and Rockwell Automation, with additional contributions from Alien Technology, Appleton, ConnecTerra, SamSYS, NiceWare, and Zebra.
