RFID--A New Technology Set to Explode?
Part Two: Early Adopters, Challenges, and User Recommendations
P.J. Jakovljevic - April 23, 2004

Early Adopters

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology could potentially replace bar coding in the long term, if global technical standards develop. While the radio transmitter technology has been around for decades, the technology got a major endorsement this past fall when both the U.S. Department of Defense and retailing giants Wal-Mart and the METRO Group decided to make RFID tags a key part of their logistics. To that end, Wal-Mart has recently instructed its top one hundred suppliers that it expects RFID transmitters on all pallets and cases starting January 2005, although there indications that the deadline will be delayed for a few months at least. Namely, as the world's largest retailer, with over 5,000 outlets worldwide, Wal-Mart currently uses traditional bar-coding and UPCs (unique product codes) to identify items and cases and pallets of goods as they move through the supply-chain and out to the stores...