EPCglobal Inc. has finished work on its first global standard for Electronic Product Code (EPC) technology. The final standards cover Class 0 and Class 1 EPC radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.
"This is an important milestone for the EPCglobal community," said Michael Di Yeso, president and COO of the Uniform Code Council and interim president of EPCglobal. "The first generation standards are complete; they meet the needs of our end users and are the basis for readily available readers and tags in the marketplace today. Organizations can feel confident in adopting and piloting EPC technologies built to EPCglobal Class 0 and Class 1 standards today to meet industry deadlines and improve their business."
The first commercial implementation of Class 0 and Class 1-tagged products in North America began in a Wal-Mart distribution centre this spring in the Dallas-Forth Worth area.
EPCglobal is still creating specifications for the next generation of EPCglobal tag standards. The last call working draft for EPCglobal UHF Gen 2 will be published over the summer with a ratified standard completed by the end of 2004. EPCglobal's hardware action group is currently considering two proposals for the standard.
www.epcglobalinc.org
