L&g Cyber Discussion Threads

[maywillow] 05/5/2004 21:33

Sun Microsystems and Capgemini Launch RFID Solution for Retail and Consumer Package Goods Companies
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Solution Addresses Industry Mandates Established by Leading Retailers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and PARIS, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun
Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Capgemini today announced the launch of
a jointly developed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solution. The
solution will help enable retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies
to comply with RFID mandates issued by a growing number of leading retailers
such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Albertsons. Sun and Capgemini provide a complete
end-to-end solution including hardware, software and consulting services.
The Sun and Capgemini RFID solution is unique in that it has been designed
from the ground up to optimize the full supply chain. The solution addresses
business justification and supply chain modeling, as well as expertise in the
application landscape at both the enterprise and middleware levels. Capgemini
and Sun's in-depth experience of complex integration and the handling of high
volumes of data compliment this solution.
"RFID adds a new level of granularity to supply chain data and has great
potential to optimize inventory management across enterprises," says
Christopher Boone, program manager with IDC. "To take advantage of RFID,
retailers and CPG companies will have to reevaluate and reengineer supply
chain processes as well as the applications and databases that support these
processes." IDC forecasts that spending on RFID for the retail supply chain
in the United States will grow from $91.5 million in 2003 to approximately
$1.3 billion by 2008.
Capgemini and Sun have collaborated for more than 12 years and have helped
their customer's gauge and respond quickly to changes in the market,
accelerate return on capital investments and maintain a competitive advantage.
Companies can leverage Capgemini's Advanced Development Centers (ADC) and
Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) centers, as well as Sun's RFID Test
Centers where suppliers can test their RFID implementations before investing
money on the technology and services. Today, Sun's Dallas-based RFID Test
Center will host an open house at the facility. To register or get further
details, visit .
Sun and Capgemini RFID solutions are based on the Sun Java(TM) Enterprise
System software, an open and integrated software system, and Sun's RFID
infrastructure software that features self-healing and provisioning and works
with leading EPC-enabled readers. Sun's EPC-compliant RFID software is
supported on a full range of systems available from Sun, including Solaris x86
or Linux-based Operating Systems through high-end SMP environments leveraging
UltraSPARC(R) processors and Solaris OS.
"Capgemini and Sun are working together with customers to build
collaborative RFID solutions that allow organizations of all shapes and sizes
to go 'beyond compliance' to seek competitive advantage in their supply
chain," stated Mal Postings, global Mobility leader, Capgemini. "We provide
companies with an expertise based on first-hand experience and real-world
implementations."
"Our co-developed solution is part of an ongoing effort to deliver the
most secure, RFID solutions to the market," said Julie Sarbacker, director of
the Auto-ID Business Unit at Sun Microsystems. "We understand the pain points
in the transition and process for retailers and distributors, and we're
designing end-to-end solutions with our partners to reduce the complexity and
costs from the equation."

About Sun Microsystems' Work With RFID
Sun Microsystems' industry-leading, standards-based, RFID solution is a
comprehensive end-to-end offering that includes hardware, software, services
and best-in-class partnerships. For over three years, Sun has been working to
make RFID technology an extension of web services and a seamless part of
software infrastructure such as the Sun Java Enterprise System. Sun has been a
leading member of and advisor to the MIT Auto-ID Center -- the driving force
for Auto-ID standards, and has participated in numerous successful pilots and
deployments. Sun is opening RFID Test Centers around the world to help
companies test their RFID implementations before they invest -- from tagging
products, integrating data into back-end systems and sharing this data with
supply chain partners. For more information on Sun's leading role with RFID
visit . To start testing in a Sun RFID Test Center and
learn how to get the competitive advantage necessary, email
[e-mail] today.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The
Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. to its position as a
leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that
make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the
World Wide Web at .

About the Capgemini Group
Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of Consulting, Technology
and Outsourcing services, has a unique way of working with its clients, which
it calls the Collaborative Business Experience. Through commitment to mutual
success and the achievements of tangible value, the company helps businesses
implement growth strategies, leverage technology, and thrive through the power
of collaboration. Capgemini employs approximately 48,000 people worldwide
(55,000 including Transiciel) and reporting 2003 global revenues of
5.754 billion euros.
More information about individual service lines, offices and research is
available at

NOTE: Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris and The Network
Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used
under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC
International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing
SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems,
Inc.

CONTACT: Terri Molini, [phone], or [e-mail], or Kim
Evans, [phone], or [e-mail], both of Sun Microsystems, Inc.;
or John J. Patterson of Capgemini, [phone], or
[e-mail].

[waldron] 31/3/2004 17:55

ID chips offer convenience, privacy groups worried
By LANCE GAY
Scripps Howard News Service
March 31, 2004

- Marketing wizards know an awful lot about you by now, but new technology is going to make their job of tracking your buying habits even easier.

Envision the supermarket or the department store of the future, where every item on the shelf is tagged with its own individualized identity. Shoppers could make their purchases and then zip through the checkout line without stopping for a clerk to tally what they have bought.

The tiny radio frequency identification chips - RFID chips for short - which begin replacing bar codes next year can remain in the shopper's cart while flashing their identities to scanners that count up the cart's contents, then present the shopper with a bill.

Just press your index finger on the credit card machine, and the computer matches your fingerprint to your credit card information and makes the bank transaction. Forget irritable or lazy checkout clerks: just take the receipt from the machine and go home.

The advantage of the chips doesn't end there. In the store, the notice of your purchase is flashed back to the warehouse where employees find replacements for the items you just bought. And once the grocery items are taken home and put in the refrigerator of the future, RFID chips on milk cartons could signal to RFID detectors on refrigerators when the family needs more milk, or when the date stamp on a particular product is expiring.

That's the rosy side of the picture.

There's a scary side too.

Suppose police find a discarded Coke can with an RFID chip at a grisly murder scene. You get a knock on the door in the middle of the night and it's the police who want to know why they traced that Coke can back to the store where you bought it and identified you as the purchaser from the computer records.

And what happens with all of that information the store is collecting on your purchase activities? Your insurance company might like to know if you like a lot of high-fat, sugary sodas and calorie-rich desserts that are likely to make you overweight and prone to an early death. A prospective employer might like to know of your regular liquor purchases. Your spouse would certainly be curious about that expensive jewelry you bought.

Privacy advocates say consumers aren't yet aware of all the dangers of the digital trails people already leave behind them in their daily lives, and the trail is only going to get richer as new technologies appear in the store.

Katherine Albrecht, a consumer advocate who started the Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, worries that Americans are so complacent about technology, they won't realize how much personal privacy has been lost until it's too late.

"You don't need a crystal ball to look into the future - it's already happening," Albrecht said. "There is an invisible surveillance structure around us now."

The supermarket and department store industry promotes new technologies to cut down annoying delays at checkout lines and permit more efficient control of store inventories.

Bi-Lo, a supermarket chain in the South, reports it has cut check fraud by 60 percent since it started using fingerprint scans at checkout registers. Department chains like Wal-Mart, Target and supermarket chain Albertsons are already notifying manufacturers they want radio-controlled identification chips installed in products starting next year because the chips make warehousing more efficient.

Albrecht says new technologies also will make spying easier. Her advocacy group, which started to fight against supermarket loyalty cards, is now branching out to battle against these new technologies.

Albrecht says the industry isn't giving proper consideration to the rights of people who don't want to be tracked. Consumers already are required to identify themselves on application forms for loyalty cards, and those who want to use fingerprint scans instead of traditional credit cards or checks will have to surrender their fingerprints to the store.

Privacy advocates point out that innocuous supermarket loyalty card data already has been put to other uses.

After the case of Mad Cow disease was detected in Washington state late last year, supermarkets used data collected at checkouts to track meat sold customers so they could warn them. A retired Los Angeles tow truck operator who sued a supermarket after he slipped on a carton of spilled yogurt and broke his kneecap claimed a lawyer for the store threatened to make public data from his loyalty card purchases detailing his purchases of alcohol.

But industry says opponents are mistaken about the dangers of the new technology.

Jack Grasso, a spokesman for the Uniform Code Council, an industry organization in Lawrenceville, N.J., said alarms about RFID chips are speculative and don't reflect the advantages for consumers.

"We're not about tracking people, we're about greater visibility in the supply chain," he said. "Consumers, when educated, are quite accepting of this."

Grasso said the technology is at least five to 10 years away from being useful for widespread applications because of the cost of the chips. And once stores can use the chips to properly monitor their supply chain, it will mean less waste in the warehouse, fresher produce on the shelves and reduced costs passed on to consumers.

RFID chips are only beginning to appear in supermarkets and department stores, but the technology really isn't new. It's similar to the smart cards used to speed through highway tollbooths or key fobs used to speed the purchase of gasoline.

RFID are tiny, radio-controlled chips pasted on the side of products to replace bar codes. They can contain their own power or be powered by an outside reader when it comes into its field. When turned on, the chips identify the product individually.

The chips could be put to many uses. The drug industry is planning to use the chips to thwart drug counterfeiting; security analysts say the technology could lead to keyless offices. Farmers already are using RFID tags on livestock to track them through the food chain.

"Sure, its obvious application is factory inventory control, but you can use it for all sorts of things. Believe me, the market for RFID is vast," predicts futurist Paul Saffo.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the congressional Internet caucus monitoring the impact of new technology, said those uses of RFID chips are exciting, but they also will provide an extraordinary amount of detail stored in computer data banks about how individuals pass their day, what they like and what they don't like.

"The RFID train is beginning to leave the station, and now is the right time to begin a national discussion about where - if at all - any lines will be drawn to protect privacy rights," Leahy said.

Leahy said he is disturbed by industry testing of RFID chips in stores where consumers were watched on store cameras as they picked up Gillette razor blades equipped with the chips. California's legislature is considering a measure that will require stores in that state to keep data collected from RFID chips separate from that gathered with loyalty cards, and Utah's House of Representatives recently passed a law requiring consumers to be alerted when RFID chips are being used.

The backlash has been more dramatic in Europe, where protests and consumer picketing forced one store to shut down a chip test run.

Grasso, the Uniform Code Council spokesman, said the industry doesn't want to see restrictions put on a promising technology, but welcomes the discussion about privacy concerns. "It's never to early to talk about an important issue such as privacy," he said.


On the Net: www.nocards.org

www.spychips.com

www.epcglobalus.org

[grupo guitarlumber] 04/3/2004 09:48

About Printronix
Printronix is a global leader enabling printing technologies for the industrial marketplace and distribution supply chain. It is the world's best-selling line matrix printer manufacturer and has earned an outstanding reputation for its high-performance thermal and continuous-form laser printers. In addition, Printronix adapts new technologies to create innovative solutions, including radio frequency identification (RFID) "smart label" and wireless mobile printers. Printronix's integrated network solutions, such as Online Data Validation (ODV™) and PrintNet® Enterprise, improve the printing of bar codes, labels and forms while verifying accuracy and offering unparalleled diagnostic technology. Based in Irvine, Calif., Printronix has operations worldwide. For company information, see www.printronix.co.uk.



About Alien Technology
Alien Technology Corporation is a leading provider of reliable, high-volume, low cost, EPC compliant Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products. Using Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA), a patented manufacturing process, Alien manufactures electronic product code (EPC) class 1 tags and readers used in a variety of applications including supply chain management, logistics operations and anti-counterfeiting to improve inventory management and reduce operating costs. Alien Technology Corporation is an active member of EPC Global. More information about Alien Technology Corporation can be found on the Company's website at www.alientechnology.com.



About Manhattan Associates
Manhattan Associates, Inc. is the global leader in providing supply chain execution solutions. We enable operational excellence through our warehousing and distribution, transportation and trading partner management applications. These integrated solutions leverage state-of-the-art technologies, innovative practices and our domain expertise to enhance performance, profitability and competitive advantage. Manhattan Associates has licensed more than 940 customers representing more than 1,400 facilities worldwide, which include some of the world's leading manufacturers, distributors and retailers. For more information about Manhattan Associates, visit www.manh.com.

[grupo guitarlumber] 21/1/2004 20:16

For Fellow Followers and RFID Fans
Fact Sheet: Radio Frequency Identification Technology

What is Radio Frequency Identification Technology?

Radio frequency (RFID) identification technology refers to wireless systems that allow a device to read information contained in a wireless device or “tag” – from a distance without making any physical contact or requiring a line of sight between the two. It provides a method to transmit and receive data from one point to another.

RFID technology has been commercially available in one form or another since the 1970s. It is now part of our daily lives and can be found in car keys, highway toll tags and security access cards, as well as in environments where bar code labeling, which requires physical contact or a line of sight, is impractical or less effective. RFID has established itself in a wide range of markets including automated vehicle identification systems because of its ability to track moving objects.

There is no one definitive “RFID technology,” but, rather, an enormous range of technical solutions that vary in their complexity and cost, depending upon the functionality, packaging, and applications for which they are used.

In its simplest form in common use today, a “passive&rdquo; RFID system works as follows: an RFID reader transmits via its antenna an electromagnetic radio frequency signal to a passive RFID tag. The reader receives information back from the tag and sends it to a computer that controls the reader and processes the information that has been retrieved from the tag. Passive tags do not have batteries and operate using the energy they receive from signals sent by a reader.

Application of RFID Technology to US VISIT

US VISIT is exploring the use of RFID technology as a tool that will better enable the program to fulfill its goals, which are to enhance the security of our citizens and visitors, facilitate legitimate travel and trade to and from the United States, ensure the integrity of our immigration system and protect the privacy of our visitors. RFID technology can improve the ability to match entries to exits without impacting processing time at the land borders and record arrivals and departures of a visitor in pedestrian and vehicle lanes – rapidly, accurately and reliably. It will also allow US VISIT to detect a visitor’s tag and provide the primary inspection process with information and a mechanism for establishing an accurate and timely record of exits without slowing a traveler through the process. Finally, RFID can also provide solutions that are not invasive and that protect the privacy of visitors.

Overview

As US VISIT moves toward improving the automated entry-exit system at the nation’s land border ports of entry, RFID technology offers a potential solution for an entry-exit operation that better facilitates legitimate travel and trade.

Protecting Privacy and Health Considerations

US VISIT will assure that our visitors’ information is always protected. The RFID technology used by US-VISIT will safeguard sensitive information. The tags will not include visitors’ biographic or biometric information. Rather, they will contain only a serial code that links to a visitors’ information securely stored in databases used by US VISIT. It will also be tamper-proof and difficult to counterfeit. There are many other layers of defense to prevent information being used incorrectly including:


No personal information will be included on the tag
Information on the tag cannot be changed
The tag will only be activated once officially issued
Personal information is only processed over secure communication paths


These factors will render ineffective so-called “skimming,&rdquo; the use of unauthorized reading devices to capture information from such tags. A serial code would be meaningless to any third party trying to collect that information.

Also, it will be impossible to “track” the whereabouts of someone holding such a passive tag without a corresponding reading device. Concerns about such tracking using passive RFID are perhaps confused with Global Positioning Satellite devices, which rely on a completely different technology from that used by RFID and will not be used by US VISIT.

Radio frequencies emanating from RFID tags are far below the levels that could cause any harm to human health and below the typical ambient radio frequencies most people are exposed to in the United States on a daily basis from devices such as TVs and radios. Like these other devices, RFID tags and readers are regulated and their safety is certified by the Federal Communications Commission.

US-VISIT continues to test technologies that will help it better achieve its mission to enhance security of our citizens and visitors while facilitating legitimate travel and trade across our borders.



A LIST OF SNOOPERS





To be Followed

[turintrader] 05/10/2001 10:09

Gerald

Yes SWD is on my watch list as well. But it keeps going down so sit and wait!!

TT

[gerald smith] 05/10/2001 09:47

I think I will now add Sportsworld Media (SWD) to my initial list.

They posted absolutely brilliant results this week, brilliant as in UNIQUE. And a few analysts are say that they are now well oversold. Despite an increase in profits of 192% (even after stripping out exceptionals!) for the year their price has continued downwards. They are virtaully alone in the entire sector not to be hit by ad revenue downturns. A very intersting and smart company.

There's a good piece about them on Citywire today (5.10.01).

[turintrader] 03/10/2001 09:58

Gerald Smith

The tricky bit is knowing if and not when there is a recovery due for these stocks. They are all looking good if a recovery is around the corner but, could fall another 10%-15% if it drags out for another year or so.

TT

[gerald smith] 03/10/2001 09:52

I see I'm all alone on this suject then!

[gerald smith] 03/10/2001 00:06

The current climate has devastated the media sector. Pretty much every one of them are around their lows. They still have further to fall IMO, but here's a little list of those I'm keeping an eye on.

The second there is the least sniff of the recession clearing-up and that marketing budgets are no longer being squeezed this sector will fairly rattle along. Manufacturers will need to scramble to reclaim lost market share and get back to business proper.

Here are my favourites:

Aegis
WPP
Granada
FTV
Cordiant
Emap
Carlton
Scottish Media

What do you reckon?