BusinessWorks Inc.- A dotcom in making

Tracking of students? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6942751/ National ID Cards on the way? http://news.com.com/From+high-tech+drivers+licenses+to+national+ID+cards/2100-1028_3-5573414.html?tag=nefd.lede No way you say? The question, 'why not?' would probably result in a scoff from most people. I don't want to be tracked, the government can't force me to carry a national ID card, and I do not want big brother in my life are just a few answers one could expect. How many state and federal government enforced identification systems were first 'controversial' and now just another fact of life? 'There is a way to make kids safer without making them feel like a piece of inventory.' - Michael Cantrall parent of two students in the California Program. Would you accept a number that is assigned to you from cradle until grave and mandated by law at birth? If you are an American, I am betting you have a social security number that is exactly that. Would you ca...

There was a huge uproar over a California school's RFID Student Tracking. It makes me think, are we ready for RFID in our day-to-day life? Could RFID monitoring had prevented or limited Columbine High School tragedy? Can RFID monitoring make our schools gun-free and drug-free? I don't know the answer, but these questions generate some interesting possibilities. After I posted my request for submitting pilot test projects, on various RFID forums, I received a request for testing from a school technologies developer who is planning to implement RFID technology in schools. This developer is outside US and has an ambitious plan to track thousands of students and teachers. Similar efforts are in progress in Indian sub-continent. Are these people not concerned about privacy or the benefits of using RFID far outweigh privacy issues?

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is hosted at Weekend Pundit . It has the best round-up of business posts in the blogosphere for the week ending February 13th, 2005. Outstanding job is done in categorizing posts, which makes it easy to follow posts related to investments, economics, marketing, business education, social security (yes..it has become so hot that it is categorized), technology and taxes. Also, do not miss the editor's picks.

RFID must be the pinnacle to all technologies. With Wal*Mart, Target, and the Department of Defense all agreeing on implementation for various application, it must be the next big thing. Let's take a step back from all the hype and understand what is really going on here. Before any technology may truly proliferate, standards must be set and agreed upon, deployed, and enforced. The Department of Motor Vehicles enforces and controls government mandated standards for identifying vehicles and matching them with the identity of their owners. The internationally accepted standard of TCP/IP allows millions of nodes to be identified and networked. EPC Global is creating standards, among them is the task of identity related standardization of individual RFID tags and readers. A six-character license plate without the database with correlating VIN numbers, expiration stickers, associated taxes, and local law enforcement system is merely a scrap of metal. A networked powerful workstation wi...

BusinessWorks Inc has first member (besides me) on its team! Please join me in welcoming Brent Faulk on board. He will be a worthy co-author, or should I say co-blogger, of this blog. Brent brings a broad spectrum of experience with him. As you know this blog is about a RFID solutions related business and deals with various business related topics, Brent is a perfect fit with his knowledge in RFID Technologies, Business Development, Sales and IT Management. In his illustrious career, he has worked for NATO - controlling IT iniitatives in Brussels HQ, managed projects for a start-up IT-Resourcing and Integration company, consulted for a database middleware company and has been engaged in RFID Development lately. He will be a great asset to this blog and I look forward to reading his insight about RFID and business in general.

If you recall my post about RFID Development Kit blog, I had appealed to vendors about providing an evaluation kit. Anita Campbell from RFID-Weblog had posted similar appeal . I had also emailed to various vendors about the kits. Finally, I received one response. This vendor has agreed to provide the kit. Once I receive this kit, I will be starting a new blog as promised. This blog will document various experiments and hopefully help people in doing their own "pilot" projects.

This is a continuation of my yesterday's post . Venture Capitalists are very busy people. It is always a good idea to rehearse your meeting in the privacy of your own office and time yourself while describing salient points about your company. That brings us to first tip: Be prepared! It is a well known fact that opportunity knocks once on your door. Make best use of this opportunity, by preparing for the meeting well in advance. If your proposal is rejected due to lack of preparedness or any other reason more than once, your reputation spreads fast in Venture world. Venture capitalists don't hesitate in exchanging notes about the companies. Present yourself as a Global Player.... Product or services you wish to develop or sell, must be unique and have global appeal. Specialization is essential to get Venture Capitalist interested as it gives your company a niche. Demonstrate your willingness to risk everything you own.... Your commitment to the project, shows your confidence....

Now that the Business Plan is made, Vendors are selected, next step is to approach Venture Capitalists with a Business Plan and get some finance to get the business started. Ideally a real business would first get started with their own funds and with loans from banks or angel investors, but then we are not a real business. We will follow the approach of getting the idea approved and financed. With abundance of Venture Capitalists, there is a need to select one who fits your needs. The Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources (Needham, Massachusetts: Venture Economics, Inc., 1990) documents five ways of choosing a venture capital firm. Go Local : Whether it is you or me or a Venture Capitalist, one feels safer when investment is local. In other words, the closer the venture capitalist is to the investment, the easier it is to "add value" to it. Phase of development : Venture Capitalists are sensitive to the stage-of-development they invest. Some have bias towards later-...

I have presented three vendor profiles so far. Next I will compare them and then select one as a primary vendor and other two as backups. Features Vendor One Vendor Two Vendor Three RFID Sales (Annual) $2,200 million $1,500 million $50 million Tag Volume (Annual) 200 million 150 million 10 million Transponders 125/134.2 kHz, 13.56 MHz and UHF 433.92 MHz 433.92 MHz Readers Range 450 feet 250 feet 250 feet Terms Credit until project implementation 120 days or Project implementation Credit until project implementation Contract Long Term Case-to-Case Long Term My choice is Vendor Three as a Primary Vendor, Vendor Two as first backup and Vendor One as second backup. Vendor Three, although much smaller in size compared to other two is willing to accommodate all the changes which we may require in the course of implementation. Other two, though reliable, may not be willing to modify their products to suit our requirements. Due to other commitments, I will be posting twice a week on th...

Profile: RFID VendorThree Inc. is a new entrant to RFID market and is looking to establish relationships with integrators. They have a reasonable production facility. Being new in market, they are willing to bend over backwards to provide best possible product, service and terms. Some risks are involved but I presume this feeling is mutual as our company is a start-up too. VendorThree has similar product portfolio as VendorTwo. Other features of interest are: RFID Sales (Annual).............. : $50 Millions Tag Volume (Annual)..............: 10 million tags Adopted Standards.................: ePC Gen 2 Class 2 Transponder Product Portfolio: 433.92 MHz frequency, Output power of 300 microwatts and range upto 250 feet Reader Product Portfolio..........: Readers with serial RS-232 or RS-485 protocol. Concealable Range adjustable antennas.Readers can simultaneously read multiple RFID Asset Tags at ranges up to 250 feet. Applications............................:Asset Tracking, ID system...

Profile: RFID VendorTwo Inc. is relatively new market but are soon establishing themselves as leaders with excellent products and service. They too have a huge production facility to cater large amount of Tags and Readers. However they are willing to work with RFID solution providers on case to case basis only. Terms are flexible with credit facilities ranging from 120 days to project completion . Other features of interest are: RFID Sales (Annual).............. : $1500 Millions Tag Volume (Annual)..............: 150 million tags Adopted Standards.................: ePC Gen 2 Class 2 Transponder Product Portfolio: UHF (ultra high frequency) RFID tags only 433.92 MHz frequency, Output power of 300 microwatts and range upto 250 feet ** Reader Product Portfolio..........: Readers with serial RS-232 or RS-485 protocol. Concealable Range adjustable antennas.Readers can simultaneously read multiple RFID Asset Tags at ranges up to 300 250 feet. ** Applications............................:As...

As I had decided in my earlier posts , I will profile three "virtual" vendors for the discussion of Vendor evaluations. Today I will profile our first vendor who has been conveniently named as RFID VendorOne Inc. Profile: RFID VendorOne Inc. specializes in manufacturing of ePC Gen 2 RFID Tags and Reader systems. They are well established since 1980s with a great customer support. They have a huge production facility to cater large amount of Tags and Readers. So far they have tied up with RFID solution providers on case to case basis. However they are willing to join hands with a select few RFID solution providers for a long term contract to provide RFID hardware.Terms are reasonable with credit facilities till the implementation is completed. Other features of interest are: RFID Sales (Annual).............. : $2200 Millions Tag Volume (Annual)..............: 200 million tags Adopted Standards.................: ePC Gen 2 Class 2 Transponder Product Portfolio..: HF (high fr...

If you recall my post dated January 3rd, 2005 , I had mentioned few questions that need to be answered before we approach a vendor. Please read the "big" idea post to get a clear perspective about the answered questions. 1. What type of environment will the RFID system be in? RFID Tags and GPS Devices will be residing in the vehicle and RFID Readers will be located at Truck stops and other strategic locations, mostly exposed to diverse climatic conditions 2. Will there be electrical noise, temperature extremes, high humidity or harsh chemicals? A combination of all or some of these hazards are possible most of the time as RFID Readers will be located outside in a non-protected environment. 3. How many tags will be needed? Tags will depend on number of vehicles used, but it will easily in the range of buying bulk quantities. Typically a truck fleet of a reasonable sized transportation company is in excess of 100 vehicles. 4. How many read stations will be needed? A wild estim...

This was one of those ideas which I wanted to pursue when I started my Businessworks Blog, that you are currently reading. To do complete justice to a RFID business blog, I needed an actual RFID Development Kit to see the technology in action. I wanted to experiment with RFIDs and explore the problems and find solutions. My quest for the kit, started from the day I commenced this blog. I did find quite a few kits and all of them were beyond the price I was willing to pay for writing a blog that can do nothing but only benefit the students, entrepreneurs, technology enthusiasts and RFID Industry watchers. With this RFID Development Kit, I wanted to do various experiments with RFIDs and present them in easy to understand, layman language. This blog, I hoped would encourage my audience to experiment on their own. Due to exorbitant cost, I wrote to various RFID companies who make these kits, if they can provide me with a kit for experimentation. Although I am dead against letting Companies...

When Bar code technology was born, it was sufficient for the needs of the time it was born. However as manufacturing and assembly processes became complex, codes were not enough to hold all the needed information. Secondly, codes cannot be used in every assembly application and can be damaged or destroyed by few manufacturing operations. Then entered, low frequency RFID technology to overcome these limitations. RFID is a means of storing and retrieving data through radio signals. Instead of a scanner that optically reads a code, a device sends and receives radio signals from a small, reusable tag attached to the assembly itself or to the pallet or tote holding the assembly. The added ability to add and subtract information from identification tags became important to assemblers of cars, computers, appliances and other high-value, high-mix products. An RFID tag traveling with a car chassis can tell an assembler which parts to install--just like a bar code. But, unlike other identificati...

In absence of response from vendors, I have decided to establish three "virtual" vendors and evaluate them. This could have been a wonderful opportunity for vendors to get some free advertising, but it was not to be. In any case, we will evaluate these three imaginary vendors and move forward with our business. Before we begin, let us establish some criteria that will be evaluated. We also need to ask few questions to ourselves before we contact the vendors. Here are some questions we will be looking forward to answer first: * What will be identified? * What type of environment will the RFID system be in? * Will there be electrical noise, temperature extremes, high humidity or harsh chemicals? * How many tags will be needed? * How many read stations will be needed? * How fast will the tags be moving? * What read range is needed? * How much information will be transferred to and from the tags? * How often will the tags be read and written to? * Will the RFID system be reportin...

I came across this excellent interview with Santa at RFIDNews . Lets hear what he has to say about RFID and technology in general, but before that a small poem.... 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the facility The elves were keeping up to the best of their ability, Pallets were tagged by the gate with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; Retailers were nestled all snug in their beds, With dreams of ROI dancing in their heads; And I at the North Pole talking to Santa for you, In my fourth full-length feature, an RFID News Interview. When out by the dock there arose such a clattle, As four new shipments came in from Seattle And away off the truck goods flew like a flash, New middleware gave the WMS a touch of panache But who made the North Pole so lively and quick? I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. He was dressed in fleece from his head to his toe, This is not the same Santa we all used to know. He was chubby and plump, a jolly old elf, And I ...

Recently, RF Code, Inc , a leading developer, designer and manufacturer of Auto-ID data management software and active RFID technologies announced availability of a powerful set of tools for enterprises that are building RFID networks. This kit will be provided to approved Systems Integrators and enterprise I.T. project teams for a paltry sum of $2995. Read complete article here . I wonder, when will companies come out with an affordable kit (costing under $100) for RFID enthusiasts like me? I have a desire to start another blog which will be purely technical and based on RFID Development kit experiments. I wonder if some company can sponsor such a blog and provide me a RFID kit? Hint..Hint..I don't mind Santa arriving late with his gift of RFID Developer's kit for me!

First there was light, then there was a Light Bulb controlled by a switch, then came Internet and the light bulb was still controlled by a switch, finally Pervasive internet will come and control the Light Bulb. This is the vision of Pervasive Internet. This next version of Internet is destined to control : * Industrial - Capital Equipment, Automation & Control Equipment * Power - Meters, Distributed Generators, Electricity Grid and Pipelines * Healthcare - Medical Devices * Home / Consumer - Game Systems, Consumer Electronics, Appliances * Buildings / Facilities - Access Controls, Office Equipment, HVAC / Environmental Systems * Retail - Lighting & Refrigeration Systems, Scanners & Registers * Transportation - Vehicles, Airplanes, & Intermodal Transport This congregation of Internet with the smart devices will create a serious shift in the advancement of the digital revolution - forming a comprehensive "digital neural net". Imagine a large office building in ...

As I briefly mentioned about subtle changes in the blog yesterday, RFID and WSNs, two merging technologies will be focus of our attention. Wireless sensor networks or WSNs will bring about the revolution of "The Pervasive Internet" or as Anita Campbell mentioned in her comment today "The Internet of Things". So what does this "Internet of Things" involve? Providing intelligence to the manufactured objects to be self-aware, to respond to the changes in it's environment is the essence of the Wireless Sensor Networks. How nice it will be if your Computer network can also control your office lighting, airconditioning requirements and your phone systems. This is possible only if these disconnected networks talk to each other. WSNs has the capability to make this happen. WSNs combined with RFIDs increase the range of RFIDs, thus reducing(not eliminating) the needs for costly RFID readers. This can be done by using a network of sensors to pickup the signal f...