Winners of First RFID Excellence in Business Awards Showcase Industry DiversityCompanies Honored at CMP Technology's RFID World 2007PRNewswire DALLAS, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of the first RFID Excellence in Business Awards, announced today at CMP Technology's RFID World 2007 conference and exhibition (http://www.rfid-world.com/), highlight the industry's diversity as well as the business benefits organizations are gaining from this innovative technology. Using RFID, honorees achieved 30 to 50 percent reductions in inventory and labor costs, respectively; 100 percent tag read rates despite temperature and humidity challenges and a 100 times reduction in cost compared with a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking option. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060301/SFW013LOGO) The awards, presented in five categories, showcase RFID excellence in healthcare, fresh produce transport, and wildlife conservation, as well as technology and industry visionaries who have advanced the development and use of RFID. RFID Revolution, a market strategy consulting firm and provider of state-of-the-art education tools, co-founded and administered the awards program at RFID World to showcase achievement, innovation, and unique applications that illustrate the power and functionality of RFID. The 2007 recipients are: Award 1 -- Excellence in RFID Implementation Mercy Medical Center (end user), Edwards Lifesciences (supply chain partner), and Wavemark, Inc. (RFID vendor) are being honored for an RFID solution to track costly consumables, such as stents, within Mercy's Catheterization Lab. The application has yielded promising results, including a projected 30% reduction in high-cost inventory, the elimination of a daily hand-count of 2,000 items, and reduced waste of a perishable product. Award 2 -- Excellence in RFID Pilot Evidencia LLP (distributor/integrator) won this award for cold chain management of temperature and delivery of avocados, an application spanning 6,000 miles-from the Rio Blanco farms (end user) in Chile to the end customer in California, a subsidiary of Green Giant. Using RFID-enabled temperature logging technology from Evidencia's affiliate, Information Mediary, the pilot produced 100 percent read rates despite challenging temperature and humidity conditions. Award 3 -- Excellence in RFID Technology Eugene, Oregon-based ADASA, Inc. (vendor) is being recognized for its low-cost, wearable, mobile encoder, the PAD3500, which supports the encoding of tags anywhere, anytime. The device works in conjunction with ADASA's SmartCartridge, enabling the hands-free loading and encoding of RF tags. The solution has already demonstrated business value in a pilot with Freedom Shopping (end user), which reduced labor by as much as 50 percent. Award 4 -- RFID Visionary of the Year Dr. Chris Diorio, chairman and chief technical officer of Impinj, Inc., is being honored for his leadership in EPCglobal standards and UHF RFID. Dr. Diorio was a key contributor in developing practical standards for the RFID industry through his leadership as chair of the EPCglobal Hardware Action Group. His company has been the world leader in producing usable Gen 2 silicon chips used in RFID tags. His leadership in near-field UHF communications helped overcome some of the environmental challenges to RFID, such as metal and water, to produce working solutions in supply-chain tracking. Award 5 -- Most Innovative RFID Application Texas Instruments (vendor) received this award for its work with the World Wildlife Fund (end user) in tracking white-lipped peccaries, a type of wild pig, in the Amazon. TI's passive, low-frequency RFID transponder incorporated into the animal ear tags performed extremely well in a harsh, non-controlled environment. The RFID application is less invasive and 100 times less expensive than GPS options. The World Wildlife Fund is using the information to better understand animal behavior in order to conserve the species and its habitat. Seventeen distinguished judges from vendor and end-user companies, associations, investment firms, and publications reviewed a total of 96 applications. "It was great to see so many uses for this technology both inside and way outside the supply chain," said Andy Schmidt, director of information systems, Sun-Maid Growers of California, one of the judges. Bill Allen, group director of RFID at CMP Technology, as well as Leslie Downey and Patrick May, principals at RFID Revolution, announced the winners prior to the conference keynote address. Recipients, applicants and their partners as well as the judges and steering committee members are listed on the RFID Excellence in Business Awards website at http://www.rfid-world.com/. About CMP Technology (http://www.cmp.com/) CMP Technology is a marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/ ), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. About RFID Revolution (http://www.rfidrevolution.com/) RFID Revolution provides RFID education and market strategy consulting services. Its new RFID Essentials e-learning courseware offers a compelling, yet affordable learning experience to thousands of professionals from a range of disciplines worldwide. The Washington, D.C. area firm offers market strategy consulting services to companies with emerging RFID solutions. It also provides market research and briefing services to associations, government agencies, investment firms, and law firms seeking to better understand the radio frequency identification marketplace. RFID Revolution is a co-founder and administrator of the RFID Excellence in Business Awards at RFID World 2007. To learn more, please visit http://www.rfidrevolution.com/ or call 301-589-9791. Media Contacts: Art Norman Kim Novino CMP Technology Bridgeman Communications P: 949-223-3629 P: 617-742-7270 E: anorman@cmp.com E: kim@bridgeman.comPhoto: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060301/SFW013LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com SOURCE: CMP Technology CONTACT: Art Norman of CMP Technology, +1-949-223-3629, anorman@cmp.com; Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ |