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| RFID Software Planned |
| Jun. 18, 2007 |
Radio frequency ID (RFID) tag-tracking software will be bundled with BizTalk Server 2006 R2, which could help customers build RFID-tracking solutions on Windows. RFID tags are inexpensive wireless data storage chips built into billions of identity cards, shipping pallets, and labels for high-value consumer items, replacing or augmenting earlier tracking technologies such as bar codes. By standardizing RFID hardware interfaces and providing basic infrastructure for processing incoming RFID tag data, Microsoft's planned BizTalk RFID software could make the technology more usable on Windows. However, the software faces entrenched competitors, and RFID technology itself continues to face adoption barriers. RFID Increasingly Important in Key Markets Microsoft is introducing its BizTalk RFID software because the technology has become increasingly important in several critical industries, including government, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare. RFID tags are electronic chips with small amounts of data storage. The tags can be read and sometimes written to by radio signals and are often small enough to embed in consumer items or even paper labels attached to items. They have several advantages over tracking technologies such as magnetic stripes and bar codes: they can be read at longer distances, without requiring exact positioning of the reader by a human operator, and readers can access many tags simultaneously. These characteristics have made RFID tags attractive for a variety of applications:
The RFID market received an early boost from major organizations such as Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Defense, which mandate RFID tags on incoming pallets from many of their suppliers. Nevertheless, the market has grown more slowly than expected, and the supporting software and services market remains relatively small: the analyst firm IDTechEx estimates that 1 billion tags were sold in 2006 (versus a predicted 1.3 billion), and ABI Research estimates that the combined RFID software and services market will reach US$3.1 billion in 2007 (down 15% from that company's previous estimate). Many of the barriers that have slowed RFID growth are shrinking: wireless and data format standards for tags, such as the EPCGlobal Gen2 standard, have increasing adoption and maturity; RFID tag prices have come down to as little as US$0.05 for the simplest tags in large volumes; and organizations have gained experience on where RFID can prove most useful—Wal-Mart, for example, is using the technology more heavily for tracking product inside its stores than for dealing with suppliers (as it had originally intended). All of these forces have led major business software vendors such as Oracle and SAP to add RFID tracking software to their product lines. By entering the market with its own BizTalk RFID software, Microsoft hopes to help its partners sell Windows, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and other products in organizations that adopt the technology. Furthermore, Microsoft hopes that its entry could help kick off a wave of adoption that it can ride, by standardizing technology and reducing costs for RFID on the Windows platform. Server Connects RFID Devices to Applications The heart of Microsoft's RFID software is the BizTalk RFID server platform, which provides standard APIs for connecting business applications to RFID devices such as tag readers. (See the illustration "BizTalk RFID Architecture".) Though bundled with BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and labeled "BizTalk," the RFID server does not require BizTalk Server components and can be installed by itself. The server performs two major functions: standardizing device communication and processing incoming data. (See the illustration "Inside a BizTalk RFID Server".) Standardizing device communication. BizTalk RFID implements the Device Service Provider Interface (DSPI), a Microsoft-defined API for communicating with RFID devices. DSPI provides a device-independent command set for business applications to perform operations such as reading data from tags, writing data to tags, monitoring and configuring devices, and other tasks. To support DSPI, device manufacturers write components called providers, which translate between the DSPI commands and the specific commands supported by their devices. Providers also handle the low-level details of communicating with a device, typically through the device's Windows driver, or through a .NET client and network protocol. DSPI thus plays a role similar to a device driver interface, with similar benefits: by standardizing the interfaces to RFID devices, the DSPI enables creation of Windows RFID applications that work with any supported device. Processing incoming data. BizTalk RFID delivers a programmable event-processing engine to deal with incoming RFID data. Developers can write application-specific components (called event handlers) that filter out incorrect or duplicate data, a common problem with RFID readers, and that correlate incoming data with other data sources, such as inventory or shipping records, so that problems can be spotted immediately. This can reduce the processing workload for business applications dealing with RFID data, potentially improving performance and simplifying programming. Developers can write DSPI providers and RFID event handlers in Visual Studio. However, BizTalk RFID also provides a Rules Composer for event handlers. This tool, based on the BizTalk Server Rules Composer, enables developers to write Outlook-like rules to process incoming data. Developers and administrators can deploy code to an RFID server and monitor and configure the server with Microsoft's RFID Manager console or a corresponding command-line console. BizTalk RFID provides performance counters, events, and a management API and Web service for external administration tools, such as Microsoft's Operations Manager. Business applications can communicate with BizTalk RFID servers by several means:
In many cases, BizTalk Server will be useful as an intermediary. Developers can connect BizTalk Server to BizTalk RFID via the event sink database or a custom Web service, and then use BizTalk Server to exchange RFID data with the many business applications (e.g., mySAP ERP, Oracle databases) that have BizTalk Server adapters. If multiple business applications require access to RFID data, or an organization does not want to customize a business application to talk to BizTalk RFID directly, BizTalk Server could prove the best approach. Partner, Internal Support Critical BizTalk RFID can only be effective if device and business application developers support it. A key partner will be Intel, which recently launched a chip set for RFID readers that could boost adoption of DSPI. Other partners that Microsoft has lined up include the following: DSPI adopters include Alien Technologies, Cathexis, Convergence Systems, Intermec, Motorola, MTI, Paxar, Printronix, Reva, SATO, Tyco, UbiSense, Unitech, Wavetrend, and Zebra. Business application developers and systems integrators include 3M, Cactus Commerce, Daenet, Hewlett-Packard, Infosys, Kikata, Maximum Data Solutions, TCS, Wipro, and Xterprise. Conspicuously absent from the list are the major business application vendors, Oracle and SAP, who already offer RFID extensions to their application platforms. Microsoft's own Dynamics AX ERP product is to adopt BizTalk RFID for version 5.0, probably shipping in 2008. Support in Dynamics AX and in third-party business applications will ultimately decide whether BizTalk RFID catches up with other more-established software platforms. Availability, Requirements, and Resources Microsoft plans to ship BizTalk RFID with BizTalk Server 2006 R2 in the second half of 2007, and a prerelease version ships in the R2 beta. BizTalk RFID has a long list of prerequisites, including SQL Server (although the free Express edition will work for small-scale deployments), the .NET Framework 3.0, and the Web Services Enhancement 3.0 toolkit (used for the BizTalk RFID administrative Web service). The BizTalk Server 2006 R2 beta is available at connect.microsoft.com (registration required). For overviews of RFID and BizTalk RFID, see download.microsoft.com/download/8/C/A/8CA5BBD6-B8E1-4788-B8E4-68F07DB5B187/technetintrackmei2006.ppt and msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479354.aspx. A developer Webcast for BizTalk RFID (registration required) is at msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032335944. A large-scale RFID supply chain solution by Unisys, a Microsoft partner, is described at www.unisys.com/public_sector/clients/featured__case__studies/us__army.htm and www.unisys.com/eprise/main/admin/micro/doc/RFID_Fact_Sheet.pdf. RFID standards are summarized at www.nje.ca/Index_RFIDStandards.htm. |
