Sun Java System RFID Software 2.0, the first upgrade to the product since its launch last July, is loosely defined as middleware, or software that sits between RFID readers and a client’s back-end system (usually a supply-chain management or database system) to help process RFID data.

Sun has included several new features into the product, including a web-based interface that allows for remote management of RFID systems. Customers can track the movement of RFID tags, monitor the health of RFID readers and re-configure RFID systems via the Internet.

The latest version also supports next-generation industry standards, including EPCglobal Application Level Events (known as ALE). This is important because it allows middleware applications, like Sun’s, to push the processing of RFID data closer to the edge of the network, such as at the warehouse level, said Sam Liu, director of RFID product management at Sun.

Previously, if a client wanted to know, for example, how many products it had shipped out of a warehouse during a certain period, it would run an application that would process the raw data, which often generated network traffic between the application and the RFID readers, Liu said.

Now there is a standard and it can be pushed down to the middleware level, Liu said.

Sun’s version 2.0 also supports EPCglobal’s Generation 2 standard, which is designed to improve the way RFID readers interact with RFID tags, and the US government’s Department of Defense UIC standard.

For existing Sun RFID software customers, who have a maintenance contract, the software upgrade will be at no cost. Liu declined to say how much the software costs, but said customers now can buy it per reader, a move aimed at clients with small RFID operations.

Sun RFID customers include Australia’s largest retailer Coles Myer Ltd, which uses it for asset tracking, and Tokyo Narita International Airport in Japan, which uses the software for luggage tracking.

Sun’s largest RFID rival is IBM, Liu said, since both companies sell RFID services and consulting, in addition to software.