RFID Enterprise 2.0 includes an Eclipse tooling environment, which enables companies to create composite applications, as well as on-disc encryption to improve security.
Essentially, the latest version has been geared for companies that are moving beyond pilot-stage RFID projects to more in-field operations, said Dan Auker, Sybase’s product line manager of its Information Technology Solutions group.
RFID Enterprise 2.0 features three key components, including network and device management. The new device management capabilities have been extended to also include periphery devices, such as secondary light sensors that confirm when an RFID tag has actually been read. Other new features include being able to provision devices on a group level as opposed to individually.
Sybase’s iAnywhere mobile device subsidiary will also be launching a stand-alone version of this network and device component, called RFID Anywhere 2.0, Auker said.
Sybase has also extended its enterprise applications on the stack to include business process modeling and rules.
Auker said this would enable companies to comply with traceability-of-goods requirements, which is becoming increasingly important in pharmaceutical and other industries. That is, being able to trace a shipped good throughout the supply chain, in the event of a product recall, for example.
Companies need to be able to trace a jar of spinach, say, back through the supply chain all the way to the OEM and even the farm where the spinach came from, he said.
The stack’s third component is data persistence and management. As new types of tracking measurements become more prevalent, such as goods’ temperature, vibration and moisture, companies need beefed-up data management capabilities, Auker said.
RFID Enterprise 2.0 has multi-protocol support and also has the ability to natively store XML documents, which often are used among supply-chain partners, Auker said.
With its latest stack, Sybase competes against BEA, IBM and a slew of smaller companies that are trying to move up the stack and offer a complete solution, Auker said.
Sybase is the only company that offers a product that is a full technology stack for enterprise-scale RFID deployment, Auker said.
Verison 1.0 of the product was first released about a year ago.
Dublin, California-based Sybase did not provide pricing details of its latest offering because of the variability among customer deployments, Auker said.
