Wednesday, 1 December 2004 • 10:30 – 12:00

George Brody, GlobeRanger Corporation, USA
Abstract: Software Technology and Applications for RFID
According the Andy Grove, former Chairman of Intel Corporation, there are strategic inflection points in businesses, technologies and the life of a company. These inflection points are a "convergence of forces making sudden and rapid change inevitable" and they create "full-scale changes in the way business is conducted." By this definition, the next inflection point could be RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks. Tagging everything from tires to hospital equipment to clothing is expected in the next few years.

Computing is moving towards the edge of the enterprise, enabled by mobile technology and pervasive automation technologies.

Mobile applications have enabled distributed functionality beyond the four walls of the enterprise, linking mobile workers via wireless networks.

The next big push is the convergence of a number of technologies - such as wireless, low cost auto-id or RFID tags and readers plus software that will provide visibility and management control of individual items without human interaction. This trend, called pervasive automation, without humans involved at every step of the way, enterprises will be able to revolutionize the way items are produced, warehoused and distributed. The ability to track the flow of goods at the edge of the supply chain, enabling real-time decisions, can bring immediate value in areas such as inventory management, replenishment, and shrinkage. The presentation will describe the concept of RFID and wireless sensor-based edge solutions that resides between the data-collection devices and back-end systems to manage the continual information flow, enabling alerts, decision support and real-time response.

This panel session will focus on the software technologies , applications and standards that can enable this inflection point to occur.

Bio: As a Founder and Chief Technology Officer for GlobeRanger Corporation , George Brody is responsible for the overall strategy, growth and advancement of innovative solutions for the company. Brody was Chief Executive Officer and President of GlobeRanger from its inception until he assumed his current position in January 2002. Prior to co-founding GlobeRanger in 1999, Brody served as Vice President and General Manager of Nortel Networks' Wireless Network Solutions division where he managed a series of entrepreneurial start-ups including Satellite Network Solutions, Wireless Intelligent Networks and Wireless New Business Ventures, a business incubator. During his tenure at Nortel, as Vice President of Wireless Technology, Brody was responsible for its global wireless product development programs and the management of the Bell Northern Research Labs in Richardson, a world-class research and development organization that employed more than 2,500 professionals.  

Brody holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science. He also earned master's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He is a member of the advisory council for the School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas and serves on the board of directors of the Texas -based Metroplex Technology Business Council and the Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

Speaker: Bryan Tracey, GlobeRanger Corporation, USA

Bio: Bryan Tracey, Chief Architect for GlobeRanger, is directly responsible for the architecture and design strategy for GlobeRanger's core product, the iMotion platform. As a representative of GlobeRanger, he has helped to design and establish global standards within the MIT Auto-ID Center Software Action Group. Bryan is a recognized expert and speaker on RFID and mobility solutions.

Prior to GlobeRanger, Brian led product engineering and development at companies such as AllStarFleet, MediaRealm Incorporated and Vujade. Bryan earned a bachelor's degree from St. John's College and a masters in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Talk Title: Introducing "The Real World" to enterprise systems - The role of Edgeware Software in the RFID Infrastructure.
Abstract: RFID offers revolutionary ways of capturing information about objects in real world. However, the majority of RFID enabled benefits are all dependant on the capabilities of software to manage a massive incoming flow of data. We'll discuss a new breed of software called "Edgeware" that sits between RFID readers and current enterprise and backend systems. The core role of Edgeware is to capture the raw data made available by readers and then provide a business context around that data in order to produce "Actionable Business Events" capable of being processed by the upstream systems. We'll also discuss advanced Edgeware functionality including:

•  Device management, configuration and monitoring
•  Distributed execution to achieve scalability
•  Edgeware workflow process development
•  Edgeware based Emulation Environments
•  The role of Mobility in RFID Solutions

Speaker: Jeff Wells, Franwell Software Inc. USA

Bio: Jeff Wells is the President and CEO of Franwell, Inc., located in Plant City, Florida. He received a BS degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Tampa and has been certified in various computer technologies through several accredited programs. During the time Jeff was a student, he also was a member of the ROTC, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant and earning commendation for various accomplishments before being honorably discharged. Jeff has more than 20 years experience in software development and more than 10 years focused on the research, development, and implementation of RFID technology. Jeff gained valuable experience in business computing at two major corporations, one of which he served as Senior Software Engineer for five years, prior to starting his own company, Horizon Computer Systems. For eleven years Jeff developed software specifically for the produce industry through Horizon, then when he entered a partnership with Ernie Francise and John Stephens, Franwell was incorporated to offer a much broader scope of services. More than ten years ago Jeff, and his corporate partners, had the vision to develop systems using RFID technology for automatic identification, data collection, and traceability purposes for supply chain industries.

Talk Title: RFID applications development and deployment challenges.
Abstract: This presentation will be given from the perspective of a company involved in RFID systems integration as well as software solutions. Integration of logistics and accounting functionality for grower, packer, shipper, broker, food distributor operations, as well as farm management applications are revolutionizing the agricultural/produce food industry. Mr. Wells will address specific RFID applications development and deployment challenges and present case studies of specific client solutions.

Speaker: Dr. Suresh Damodaran, RosettaNet, USA

Bio: Dr. Suresh Damodaran is Senior Software Architect with Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of SBC Communications. Until September 2004, Suresh was the Chief Technologist of RosettaNet
(www.rosettanet.org ), on loan from Sterling Commerce. His background includes working on distributed tools for high performance systems with Hewlett Packard Co. and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In his career spanning two decades, he has held positions as software engineer, software architect, hardware design engineer, researcher, and lecturer. He has more than a decade of experience with OO and distributed programming, but his passion remains B2B integration technologies. He participated in technical committees within OASIS and W3C on behalf of Sterling Commerce. Suresh co-authored the recently published book "ebXML: Concepts and Application," from Wiley. Suresh holds a B.Tech.(Hons) in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Louisiana.

Talk Title: B2B Standards and RFID
Abstract: The environment in which RFID based applications will be deployed is inhabited by several standards. Prominent among these are B2B standards such as RosettaNet used for B2B transactions, UCCnet used for data synchronization, and horizontal standards such as Web Services and ebXML. This presentation will describe some of these standards, the integration architecture implied by these standards, and highlight synergies and alignment with RFID applications and standards. Open questions on the speculative view of the future in which edge applications and backend applications work together will complete this presentation.