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Drug
Information Systems |
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IBM Enables Drug
Authentication, E-Customs With Release of New RFID Technology
IBM
December 15,
2006
IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center Topples Major Barriers
to RFID Adoption
Armonk NY -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new technology to
give clients the unprecedented ability to securely share and
analyze accurate and real-time data generated by sensors like
Radio Frequency ID tags, enabling significant consumer and
business applications like drug authentication and e-customs for
the first time. |
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The new
technology, WebSphere RFID Information Center, is based on a
recently completed EPCglobal standard called EPCIS, which
provides a standard way to securely communicate the data created
by sensors and RFID tags, and tie it to existing business
information and trading partners.
The growing trend of item-level tagging will create exponential
growth in sensor data well beyond that generated from
conventional barcode technology. This creates a need for a new
way to manage this explosion of data in a manner that does not
overwhelm a business and its supply chain partners. In addition
to managing the massive amount of data RFID creates, two other
barriers to widespread RFID adoption to date have been the lack
of standards and data sharing capabilities. RFID Information
Center solves all of these issues, clearing the way for
wider-spread RFID adoption in various industries.
The IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center has already been
successfully deployed for a number of early-adopter IBM clients
across several industries, including consumer packaged goods
company Unilever, the e-customs project ITAIDE in Europe, and
'Big Three' pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen.
"AmerisourceBergen sees tremendous potential in the IBM
WebSphere RFID Information Center, which will be a key component
to meeting track and trace regulatory requirements in
California," said Shay Reid, AmerisourceBergen Vice President,
Integrated Solutions. "It will also become the data backbone in
our pilot program that will enable AmerisourceBergen to improve
its service by quickly and efficiently authenticating products
and transactions through direct data exchange with
pharmaceutical manufacturers."
IBM's WebSphere RFID Information Center is the first
standards-based EPC Information Service (EPCIS) and high
performance data repository that can manage the heightening
volume of data, and also provide real time business information
to support use cases that prove ROI. The system also integrates
with Master Data systems to leverage product, location and
supplier information to provide additional business context.
The technology is designed to help clients reliably and
efficiently capture, manage, search and securely share RFID,
sensor and 2D barcode events enterprise-wide, as well as with
external trading partners and government agencies. The
standards-based platform can help businesses more easily deploy
and take advantage of RFID technology for better business
decisions and improved operations.
"By enabling standards-based data sharing among trading
partners, WebSphere RFID Information Center will give clients
ROI that has not yet been possible," said Christian C. Clauss,
Director, Sensor Information Management, IBM Software Group.
"After years of testing and investing in RFID, companies can now
begin to see real business benefits from the use of RFID data
provided back to them by their trading partners."
RFID Information Center receives data from RFID middleware,
which aggregates, filters and interprets data directly from the
readers. Then RFID Information Center stores, manages and
enables sharing of all or portions of the data with various
business applications across the enterprise, and with trading
partners. New classes of information-intensive solutions can be
built on the latest generation of sensor network repositories
linked to master data.
In addition to the base components of RFID Information Center,
the new offering will also include a Shipment Verification
capability which provides automated means to track shipments and
confirm receipts. This capability is expected to help companies
reduce losses and the significant labor required to resolve
discrepancies when errors in the shipment/receipt process occur.
WebSphere RFID Information Center will also provide the data
platform to enable additional business use cases such as
diversion tracking, inventory management, targeted recalls and
enable regulatory compliance.
RFID Information Center allows businesses to prove return on
investment in RFID, and begin to leverage the data created from
the technology to link organizations and people for economic
growth, improved healthcare and education, and enhanced security
and safety.
For more information on IBM WebSphere RFID Information Center,
please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/masterdata/rfid/
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