PRESS RELEASES
Alien Technology® And IBM Work Together On New-Generation RFID Reader
August 2, 2005, Morgan Hill, CA — Alien Technology and IBM today announced that the two companies have integrated IBM's WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure (WRDI) middleware on the newly announced Alien® ALR-9800 RFID Reader, the first RFID reader designed from the ground up for Gen2 RFID environments. Alien also announced it is offering customers a specific version of the ALR-9800 incorporating IBM's WRDI middleware, which enables the seamless integration of RFID data with IBM platform-based systems and enterprise business processes.
"The ALR-9800 with embedded WRDI represents the marriage of best-in-class RFID with IBM's global reach and enterprise-quality technologies and services," said Susan Pearson, Vice President of Alliances for Alien Technology. "We're pleased to be working with IBM in providing a truly integrated solution that will speed the implementation of robust RFID systems and support streamlined, scalable and easy-to-manage data collection and distribution."
An Intel XScale-powered intelligent reader fully compliant with the new EPCglobal Gen2 standard, the ALR-9800 is designed to bring processing intelligence to the edge of RFID networks. The ALR-9800 with embedded WRDI client software on the reader integrates with IBM WebSphere RFID Premises Server offering customers the ability to interpret and correlate high volumes of RFID data gathered from the ALR-9800 to gain instant visibility of RFID tagged pallets and products to improve operational efficiency. This information can be integrated with the enterprise and shared with the worldwide supply chain to deliver business insight within a retail or consumer driven supply chain enterprise, for instance, and to partners and customers. IBM's WebSphere Premises Server offering includes WebSphere Application Server, DB2 Universal Database software, WebSphere MQ Series, and Tivoli Systems Management middleware.
With its built-in intelligence, the ALR-9800 now offers customers a Java-based WebSphere embedded software platform equipped to perform several key functions beyond data capture, including performing RFID data filtering at the point of collection and acting as an RFID controller for aggregating multiple RFID readers into a logical data collection point for easy integration with the IBM WebSphere Premises Server. This RFID solution provides a J2ME and J2EE based application environment based on a Services Oriented Architecture that is flexible enough to integrate information with custom third-party business process applications. As a result, customers can react more quickly to market, customer, supplier, partner, and regulatory changes.
"The ALR-9800, embedding standards-based IBM WebSphere RFID software, enables companies to more easily deploy RFID solutions that can help enterprises gain on demand access to key business information in supply chains and keep inventory at optimal levels as well as extend the return on their existing information technology investment," said Robert Mayberry, vice president, IBM Sensor and Actuator Solutions.
The Alien ALR-9800 Reader with WRDI will be available in production quantities in September.
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key business partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable companies to take full advantage of the on demand era. For more information about IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com.
About Alien Technology
Alien Technology provides UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products and services to customers in retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, defense, transportation and logistics, pharmaceuticals and other industries. Organizations use Alien's RFID products and services to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and security of their supply chains, logistics and asset tracking operations. Alien's products include RFID tags, RFID readers and related training and professional services. Alien's patented Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA) technology and related proprietary manufacturing processes are designed to enable the manufacture of high volume, low cost RFID tags.
Alien was founded in 1994. The company's facilities include: its corporate headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA; an RFID tag manufacturing facility in Fargo, ND; the Alien RFID Solutions Center, in the Dayton, Ohio area, and sales offices in the US, Europe and Asia. Alien is a member of EPCglobal. More information about Alien is available at www.alientechnology.com.
Alien, Alien Technology, the Alien logo, Squiggle and FSA, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alien Technology Corporation in the United States and other countries. Copyright 2007 Alien Technology Corporation. All rights reserved.
