RFID industry heading for shakeout

Period of acquisitions and consolidation looming, warns analyst

Robert Jaques

The global radio frequency identification (RFID) market is poised for a dramatic shakeout in the coming six to nine months as firms struggle to develop the management software required to power RFID infrastructures, industry watchers predicted today.

ABI Research said that development initiatives are "flying thick and fast" but warned that many existing RFID vendors and technologies will fail amid a period of acquisitions and consolidation as players vie to develop more business focused RFID software and applications.

Advertisement

Erik Michielsen, ABI Research's director of RFID and ubiquitous networks, explained that movement into this software space comes from several directions.

"SAP, with its Auto ID Infrastructure as part of NetWeaver, is pushing down from the enterprise application space and picking up functions traditionally done by OATSystems, Acsis, Connecterra, Sun Microsystems and GlobeRanger," he said.

In turn, some of these companies are broadening their focus beyond RFID middleware into data analytics, business intelligence and automation networking, according to ABI Research's RFID Research Service

"OATSystems is a good example of this trend by pushing up and becoming competitive with some NetWeaver functionality, and it is joined in the business intelligence space by T3Ci," said Michielsen.

Sun, Connecterra, Oracle and Microsoft are all moving into this field according to their respective strengths, Michielsen added.

Others, such as Manhattan Associates and Siemens, are expected to continue developing RFID middleware in-house, but Michielsen questioned the need to keep building closed system and/or customised solutions between the reader and the enterprise application integration layer.

"I think they would be better off partnering and focusing the resulting free energy on services and higher-end software," he concluded.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

RFID

Radio frequency ID tags

The controversial tracking technology looks set to make a big impression this year, as more retailers prepare to explore its possibilities.

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

eu flag

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 6 Nov 09

This week, Europe decides what to do with illegal file sharers

Intel unveils its micro server platform

Small-enclosure systems take aim at hosting market

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

eu flag

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 6 Nov 09

This week, Europe decides what to do with illegal file...

Dell Adamo XPS

Dell launches ultra-thin Adamo XPS

World's thinnest laptop will be available by Christmas

Top 10 articles, 6 November 2009

The worst Microsoft products of all time, and a USB...

Iain Thomson

Pirate Bay shutdown could be inspiring online militancy

Recent Swedish attacks raise worrying possibility

Primary Navigation