New RFID-generating Capabilities
for BarTender and Seagull Drivers

Since the early 1990s, proponents of RFID have touted the numerous advantages of that tracking technology relative to barcoding, often stating that, finally, RFID was "just about ready" for mainstream adoption. For just as many years, other voices have claimed that the technology was too expensive and just didn't work well enough. Now, a number of aggressive initiatives are bringing the issue to a head, with the first planned major roll out of RFID capabilities for the supply chain planned for 2005. Major players driving adoption include the Wal-Mart retail store chain and the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as Metro (Germany's largest retailer).

Fortunately for Seagull and its resellers, whether the success of this new technology is near-term or long-term, our leadership position within the automatic identification industry is secure for a very simple reason:

The most popular solution being adopted for generation of RFID "smart labels" uses new versions of the thermal printer brands Seagull has supported for many years.

With this in mind, Seagull has released new versions of its Windows drivers for a variety of new RFID-capable thermal label printers. These printers can encode the RFID tags at the same time that they print the labels' text and bar codes. Initially, Seagull's drivers support RFID-capable printer models from Datamax, Printronix, Zebra, and Monarch.

The Supported RFID Standards
Just as different bar code symbologies were first championed by different companies, there are also multiple standards for the encoding of RFID data. At this time, we support the following standards from the following printer manufacturers:

As with other new printer features, Seagull will continue to release updated drivers in the future as these and other printer companies introduce support for more RFID standards.

Why Labels Remain Such an Essential
Component of Most RFID Applications
To understand why printed labels remain so crucial to RFID systems, consider the best possible RFID scenario: Free RFID tags that work 100% of the time. Next, let's fill a huge warehouse with 10,000 pallets of goods stacked to the ceiling, each with some sort of RFID tag. Let's consider what it would mean to operate such a warehouse with plain RFID tags placed on blank, unlabeled boxes and/or pallets.

Assume that somebody needs to retrieve a single pallet from the warehouse for shipment and that none of the pallets are labeled. The only possible solution to that challenge would be a number of "fixed" (non-portable) RFID scanners placed throughout the warehouse and networked to a central computer system for the purpose of determining where the entire pallet inventory is located. This would require, for example, a user to enter an ID code into a terminal and get information from the system such as, "Item 1001 is located in aisle 5, shelf level 2, section A." However, even with such a sophisticated system up and working (perfectly), how can the forklift driver be sure of choosing the right pallet once he or she believes the right one has been found? It is not realistic to simply select a pallet without visual confirmation that it is the correct one. Even armed with a portable RFID scanner, that person is going to need some sort of printed label information in order to confirm that he or she scanned the RFID tag on the desired pallet and not the one behind it.

As it turns out, human readable labels are critical in RFID systems for a variety of reasons:

1) To assist humans in quickly identifying goods when selecting and managing inventory.

2) To provide individuals using portable RFID scanners with a guaranteed means of confirming that the right RFID tag on the right pallet got scanned.

3) Just as contingencies are required in the event of broken bar code scanners and damaged bar codes, human-readable data must also be a part of a fault-tolerant RFID-based tracking system. Otherwise, the inventory management system cannot tolerate RFID scanners and RFID chips that work less than 100% of the time.

What about Bar Codes?
Although the need for human-readable labels in an RFID system should now be clear, the issue of whether or not bar codes will need to appear on those labels is a separate issue. It is widely expected that most suppliers of RFID "labeled" goods will need to continue to supply bar codes for many years to come just to support the existing auto ID infrastructure within the supply chain. Eventually, however, there are many people who expect RFID to replace barcoding in certain applications, especially those that involve large shipping containers and pallets. However, for the individual items within the containers and the pallets, many industry experts question whether or not RFID tags will ever be inexpensive enough and work well enough in such close proximity to each other to successfully replace bar codes. After all, it's hard to imagine a label with a "chip" being cost-competitive with a simple black-and-white label. And don't forget that bar codes can get as close as about 1/4 inch to each other and still be read in a reliable and controlled manner.

Preparing for the Future
Various individuals in the automatic ID industry have predicted the rise of RFID-equipped labels for quite some time. Now, another major test of this new technology is beginning to unfold. Whether RFID labels catch on next year or ten years from now, new technology is sure to enter the automatic ID industry year after year. Whatever happens, Seagull will continue the kind of aggressive research and development our customers have come to expect from us as a leading force in the industry.