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The RFID market is set to reach $11.7 billion by 2010 as demand grows for tags, readers, middleware, antennae and chips. Since a single company cannot supply all the components required for an RFID project, many companies are now subcontracting and collaborating, according to a newreport from Frost and Sullivan (www.frost.com).
For example, Ekahau and Symbol Technologies have collaborated to offer an inventory-locating solution for retail supply chains, as well as pharmaceutical, government, healthcare and other industries. Symbol’s MC9000 mobile computing RFID reader now incorporates Ekahau’s software to enable companies to pinpoint the location of tagged objects. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard and infrastructure software provider BEA Systems formalized a partnership to provide RFID solutions to global enterprises. HP will contribute its consulting, support, integration and manufacturing services to the relationship and BEA, its WebLogic software platform.
Acquisitions of RFID suppliers is another trend, as exemplified by the purchase of WhereNet by Zebra, Symbol Technologies by Motorola, IDVelocity by NCR, Tradewind Technologies and SAMSys by Sirit, and Savi technology by Lockheed Martin.
