Progress Pursues RFID

06/21/2004

Progress Software (Nasdaq: PRGS), a supplier of technology to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, has surveyed a select group of its Applications Partners (APs) to determine how they are addressing the adoption of Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) and to what extent the mid-market is currently demanding RFID. As a result of their findings, PSC has created an RFID testing lab at its Bedford, Mass., headquarters to help APs accelerate the development and adoption of RFID technologies for their Progress-based applications.

Progress Provided these details:

Progress’ APs, serving a range of large- to mid-sized companies in industries such as manufacturing and warehouse and logistics management, responded to questions about how they were incorporating RFID into their applications and how their customers were influencing that process. With several APs already incorporating RFID, about 35 percent of respondents believe the biggest business benefit that they will be able to offer is improved inventory management. Another 30 percent believe real-time visibility and insight about a location, assets and inventory will be a main benefit for their customers.

According to 45 percent of the Progress APs surveyed, their customers will need an RFID application to comply with customer mandates and specifications driven by heavy-weights such as Wal-Mart, Target, Albertsons and the U.S. Department of Defense. Thirty percent feel that the biggest challenge to this adoption is the cost of the hardware — tags, printers and readers — and customers’ lack of understanding as to how business processes must change.

“We depend on Progress, as our technology partner, to assimilate the technology we need to weather any disruptive trends that could impact our business,” said Jim Kirkley, chief technology officer of QAD, a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturers. “With the OpenEdge™ flexibility, we can assure our customers that they will be RFID compliant if and when the market demands it.”

Apprise Software, Inc., a leading provider of world-class enterprise-wide software solutions designed for consumer goods distributors, has already added RFID functionality to its existing applications. “We believe the biggest benefit to RFID for our customers will be helping them keep their existing customers, such as Wal-Mart, and landing additional business at the expense of their competitors that do not comply with these new requirements,” said Jeff Broadhurst, president of Apprise.

“With the push from Wal-Mart we are currently expanding our existing use of RFID technology to assist several clients meet the compliance requirements,” said Carl Brewer, president at IWS. “While RFID has been in the field for several years for inventory tracking and routing, Wal-Mart’s Supply Chain initiative will and has changed the landscape for the industrial supply chain.”

Progress Creates RFID Lab for Integration and Scalability Testing RFID software, hardware and scalability continue to be challenges that need to be overcome. To address this market need, Progress opened the PSC RFID lab. The lab provides an environment for APs to test their applications with RFID tag and reader hardware, and integrate their applications with Progress’ products that enable RFID applications to handle the connectivity and scalability RFID demands. The lab contains high-performance RFID simulation tools and a testing and integration environment that includes the latest RFID tags, readers, RFID data management and middleware. In addition to the Progress OpenEdge platform, the lab contains ObjectStore and Sonic RFID technologies.

Progress-based RFID solutions from partners IMS, a partner specializing in wireless networking, bar coding and automated data collection systems, and DABAC Integrierte EDV Organisation GmbH, which provides software to the forestry industry, are already undergoing rigorous field-testing. Other inaugural members include QAD and Royal 4, a leader in supply chain execution and collaborative commerce solutions.

“By partnering with Progress on their RFID lab, we have the opportunity to provide input on how applications built on the Progress OpenEdge platform integrate with emerging RFID architectures and EPC global standards, establishing best practice approaches,” said Bob Brennan, principal, IMS.

Based in Abstatt, Germany, DABAC’s pilot RFID application tracks timber for saw mill operators and forestry companies. The cutting, collecting and transporting of logs to Germany’s saw mills is a disjointed, multi-party process. With so many steps, companies and regulations involved, logs are often lost, never even making it to saw mills.

“We are working with technology from Progress Software’s ObjectStore division to store the RFID data collected on cut logs being transported to saw mills,” said Dr. Michael Groß, managing director, at DABAC. “Because of the significant amounts of data that will be involved once the application is rolled out across Europe, we needed an alternative to a traditional database and middleware solution. ObjectStore proved to be the right fit.”

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