RFID mandates are now moving beyond Wal-Mart to businesses such as Target, Albertsons, and Best Buy, as well as Tesco and Metro Group, and for each there have been small RFID-centric companies that have been developing UHF RFID products. According to ABI Research, the market''s bigger players need these smaller developers to stay flexible.

     According to Erik Michielsen, ABI Research''s director of RFID and ubiquitous networks, these small RFID-centric companies have built good business in RFID''s early stages, and are continuing to educate the market and to provide innovation, personnel and research. 116.30.151.81 This article is copyright 2005 UsingRFID.com.

Solid partnerships
     To help serve this market as it grows, many of the most significant RFID vendors and integrators are forging solid partnerships with the smaller, more agile developers. These partnerships are explored in the latest edition of ABI''s ''RFID Research Service'' which dissects the RFID industry using a three-tiered approach, based on the relationships between technologies, markets and competition.

     According to the RFID Research Service, for example, OAT Systems has partnered with Symbol Technologies, ADT and Hewlett-Packard, while Acsis has forged relationships with SAP, HP, Symbol and Intermec.

Adding value
     "These small companies can bring great value to the table," said Michielsen. "They are in a great position to complement their larger partners'' skill-sets in broader areas such as enterprise resource planning, warehouse management systems or automatic data capture."

     According to Michielsen, the smaller companies understand RFID well at the network edge and are now partnering with larger organisations that provide more enterprise focus, more company-wide integration services, and global customer support. Not only do these smaller companies'' products win accolades from end-users but they themselves have end-user relationships from earlier work on smaller projects. "They must be taken seriously," added Michielsen.

Buy-outs to come
     However, such partnerships may only be a way-station for RFID vendors. ABI forecasts that out-and-out acquisitions will become more common as time goes on, and that there will be major consolidation as larger vendors better understand where these small companies fit into their portfolios.

 

 

 

 

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