25 July 2007

HP has unveiled an RFID solutions centre in Milan, Italy, and also announced that the company has been designated a strategic RFID technology provider to Euro Pool System, a major provider of returnable packing for fresh products in Europe.

The new centre is designed to spur RFID (radio frequency identification) adoption by providing HP partners and customers with access to RFID innovations and resources. This in turn will enable partners to develop and test integrated solutions, host projects in a single, secure environment, and share technical knowledge more easily.

BEA Systems, Microsoft and SAP are among the companies that provide software for RFID technology at the center, with software demonstrations available to customers to show the technology in action.

RFID is a data collection technology that provides suppliers, retailers, manufacturers and distributors with up-to-the-minute supply chain visibility, from inventory and logistics to freshness dates. Such timely supply chain information enables companies to track products and services, increase stock availability and reduce shrinkage.

"The opening of the HP RFID solutions centre is a milestone in driving widespread RFID adoption," said Frank Lanza, worldwide RFID director at HP. "By integrating innovative RFID solutions throughout the entire business process cycle, HP can help customers gain improved visibility into their infrastructures to respond rapidly to business demands, mitigate risk and lower costs."

In its work with Euro Pool System, HP used the native RFID component inside Microsoft's new BizTalk Server 2006 R2 as a key software platform for the solution. Microsoft's RFID technology provided the bridge between the RFID systems and the Euro Pool System business applications.

HP Services professionals and expertise from the HP RFID solution centre in Milan enabled Euro Pool System to achieve the following key benefits:

• Ability to read over 300 tags per crate with 100 per cent accuracy
• Increased visibility and crate management across its supply chain
• Improved claims handling from all constituents
• Integrated data with back-end systems to obtain necessary financial information
• Cost savings from claims, deposits and reconciliation processes with retailers and growers.

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