New Handheld RF Reader With OS

(Via Forbes)Symbol Technologies,announces the first radio-frequency identification reader that supports Microsoft's Windows CE. The move should reassert Symbol's market dominance in RFID and give Microsoft a foothold in the small but growing market.Symbol, which made its name as a maker of bar-code readers, has pegged its growth on RFID technology, from its acquisition of Matrics a year ago to its latest deal with the U.S. Department of Defense in the past month. Boeing is also interested in Symbol's technology. Symbol's new XR400 will be the first non-handheld reader on the market with an operating system. By providing readers with the capability to run third-party applications will encourage consumers to develop software that communicates directly with their existing enterprise resource planning systems. This can take automation to the next level.

Today, RFID implementation can be clunky. A worker scans an RFID tag, which gets fed into a custom application running on a separate machine. Eventually, the data is processed by a back-office system like an Oracle database or a SAP application, from which executives can generate reports. But Symbol's XR400 eliminates the need for the custom machine, which saves time and money. Microsoft has been actively courting RFID companies to encourage support and development for Windows. Symbol said it chose to support Windows CE instead of Palm OS because most of their partners and customers are already familiar with Windows and can quickly develop applications for the platform. Oracle and SAP already provided Windows CE interoperability and says that Symbol will encourage its partners to develop applications for the XR400, which will help seed the market for the device. Symbol counts Marquee names like Marquee Walmart, Home Depot etc as its customer. By integrating software with hardware, Symbol indicates that it's in the market for the long haul.
Pondering Primate asks whether does this mean microsoft will be able to connect to any RFID tag and directly connect to the assigned website? And foresees big things with this alliance.Google may get interested in this space and integrate this with mobile technology. Indeed a significant leap ahead.

Category : RFID