IBM Enables Drug Authentication, E-Customs With Release of New RFID Technology

IBM Enables Drug Authentication, E-Customs With Release of New RFID Technology

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new technology to give clients the unprecedented ability to securely share and analyze accurate and real-time data generated by sensors like Radio Frequency ID tags, enabling significant consumer and business applications like drug authentication and e-customs for the first time. The new technology, WebSphere RFID Information Center, is based on a recently completed EPCglobal standard called EPCIS, which provides a standard way to securely communicate the data created by sensors and RFID tags, and tie it to existing business information and trading partners.

The growing trend of item-level tagging will create exponential growth in sensor data well beyond that generated from conventional barcode technology. This creates a need for a new way to manage this explosion of data in a manner that does not overwhelm a business and its supply chain partners. In addition to managing the massive amount of data RFID creates, two other barriers to widespread RFID adoption to date have been the lack of standards and data sharing capabilities. RFID Information Center solves all of these issues, clearing the way for wider-spread RFID adoption in various industries.

The IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center has already been successfully deployed for a number of early-adopter IBM clients across several industries, including consumer packaged goods company Unilever, the e-customs project ITAIDE in Europe, and ‘Big Three’ pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen.

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