Indonesia Ponders over RFID, Contactless Smart Card, NFC and Mobile Technology

The RFID Asia Summit 2008 (http://summit.rfid-Asia.info) held on 12-13 March 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia, organized by RFID Asia (www.rfidAsia.org), the Prominent RFID Community in Asia, is the prestigious international event to address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries in Indonesia and Asia Pacific region.

As the only event in Asia Pacific dedicated for RFID experts and leaders in charge for the development of businesses in the emerging markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 has presented a line-up of international renowned speakers from Asia Pacific and USA. The event has successfully impressed the international delegates from Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East with intellectually thought-provoking and inspiring conference tracks, exhibitions, demonstrations, business networking and meeting sessions.

The RFID Asia Summit 2008 was officially inaugurated by the Founder of RFID Asia, Adi Tedjasaputra. In his opening remarks, he pointed out how the tremendous advancement in RFID technology and market growth in Asia Pacific has started to add values in different emerging markets. Furthermore, he also detailed the unique role of RFID Asia in contributing to the advancement of RFID technology and market growth in Asia Pacific, while producing a shared practice and collective intelligence as RFID Asia community members engage in a collective process of learning and sharing. Regarding the event itself, he explained how RFID Asia Summit 2008 was crafted to provide delegates with a unique experience and results.

After the opening remarks, Stephen Dolan, the Director of Sybase Australia & New Zealand unveiled how to integrate business logic and processes with RFID and sensor technologies, including mobile devices. One of the most interesting parts in his presentation is his view on the death of RFID Middleware – the software connecting RFID readers with enterprise applications. Enriched with real-life examples and industrial case studies, he concluded his presentation with several key recommendations to integrate sensor data into Enterprise Applications.

The next speaker, Dr. Toni Anwar, the Coordinator Software Systems Engineering of TGGS Thailand introduced the basics of RFID technology and applications with examples in building automation system and smart parking. He closed his presentation with some future RFID trends and the requirements for further development in RFID.

Opening the theme of Near Field Communication (NFC) in RFID Asia Summit 2008, Goh Say Yeow, EVP Sales and Managing Director Asia Pacific of INSIDE presented the market trends and development of contactless payment. From the current contactless payment, he explained the role of NFC technology as an enabler for contactless card and card reader emulation using NFC-enabled mobile phones. Furthermore, he also detailed three NFC use cases that will have impact for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), i.e. pairing/connectivity, proximity service and transactions. Most importantly, he also highlighted that convenience will be the real value proposition of NFC that will drive consumer adoption.

Going further with NFC technology, Jonathon Gould, VP Asia Pacific of ViVOtech reviewed different generations of electronic payment system with contactless payment becoming the latest trend. He further mentioned several cases and trials involving NFC technology for mobile payment and marketing.

After a sumptuous and active networking luncheon, Chua Thian Yee, CEO of CASSIS, focused on the NFC technology used for mobile payment, reviewing the consumer landscape, the fundamentals of NFC technology and several mobile payment cases.

Heru Wahyudi, Sales and Marketing Manager, representing PT. Solusi Periferal and Intermec presented different kind of industrial RFID applications, with some remarks that are open for further discussions, such as: the possibility of having real benefits from RFID implementation without complete process re-engineering, internal benefit with self-implemented RFID and collaboration with suppliers and customers to produce more value.

In late afternoon, Dr. Urachada Ketprom of NECTEC Thailand has captured the attention of RFID Asia Summit 2008 delegates with her well-prepared presentation on animal and food traceability. Her presentation was further enriched with the latest updates on RFID projects, such as chicken farm management, animal transport checkpoint, swine farm management, microchip-implanted pets and shrimp traceability.

Exhibition is one of the highlights in the RFID Asia Summit 2008. International delegates have visited and engaged actively with the exhibitors to explore business opportunities and get the latest information on RFID products and services available in the market . The expressions of contentment were received from both the exhibitors and delegates.

Opening the RFID Demonstration Rally (tm), the RFID Group Research at School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) shared the latest information on RFID technology research and development, as well as the university-industry collaboration that has taken place. The presentation was immediately followed by product demonstration from Intermec/PT Solusi Periferal and Sicurezza, including a short video clip presentation by ViVOtech.

Closing the International Conference on Auto-ID, RFID, Smart Card and Mobile Technology, Adi Tedjasaputra summarized the full day activities and announced the networking events and One-to-One Business Meeting in the next morning following the conference.

Revealing RFID Beyond Tracking at RFID Asia Summit 2008 in Indonesia

A few years ago, Wal-Mart issued a mandate for suppliers to attach products with RFID tags. Today, only a few suppliers have complied, or in other words, the mandate does not work effectively in retail supply chain. Learning from the failures of early adopters and revealing successful RFID technology and applications beyond tracking, the prestigious RFID Asia Summit 2008 on March 12, 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia hosted by RFID Asia, recognized as the first and largest global RFID Community in Asia Pacific region, will address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries.

5-cent RFID tag is the most demanded RFID product in the world. Unfortunately, the product does not exist. The underlying assumption of large volume purchase to reach the price level of 5-cent has never become reality.

"We quickly determined that if RFID tags were ever going to have a shot at being widely used, a 5-cent price target was important for both psychological and commercial reasons. In return, though, the volumes would have to be very high—for example, more than 5 billion bar codes are scanned daily today. The problem with RFID tags at the time was that the industry was "stuck" in a higher-margin, lower-volume mind-set." wrote Sanjay Sarma, the co-founder of MIT's Auto-ID Center (now Auto-ID Lab), and also the CTO and Director of Oat Systems, in his article “Integrating RFID” several years ago.

Eventhough Wal-Mart has recently started to issue an ultimatum to its suppliers shipping to its Sam's Club warehouse outlet distribution center in Texas, USA with a premium price of $2 per pallet, it is estimated that over 15,000 Wal-Mart suppliers have yet to comply with Wal-Mart's RFID mandate, according to a recent article at Computer Business Review.

While the retail supply chain industry is still waiting for the coming of 5-cent RFID tag, various RFID applications that do not rely on 5-cent price level have mushroomed for the past few years in diverse vertical industries.



RFID and Sensor Technologies
The use of RFID and sensor technologies have become more common nowadays. Active RFID tags with built-in sensors are readily available in the market. Applications such as electronic container seals, intelligent buildings, vital sign measurement of monitored hospital patients are only a few of applications that require cost-effective infrastructure. With the increasing number of nodes and types of sensors in wireless sensor network (WSN), the role of infrastructure has become more critical to manage sensors and intelligent networks.

Stephen Dolan, the Director of Sybase Australia and New Zealand, one of the international speakers in RFID Asia Summit 2008, will unveil how to integrate business logic and processes with RFID and sensor technologies, including mobile devices.

"My expectation is that this summit could create people's awareness of what RFID technology can support to the existing environment, from biology to medical, from telecommunication to material engineering," said Dr. Toni Anwar of TGGS Thailand who will present how to design and implement integrated and intelligent building automation and security with RFID technology. "This event could also be a real summit of people, who then will continue in a good RFID project with another."

Animal and Food Traceability
Predicted as the largest RFID market of all, the use of RFID technology for animals, food and farming will benefit the food supply chain in a huge number of ways, including livestock disease control and merchandising prepared food, according to the latest report "RFID for Animals, Food and Farming 2007-2011" published by IDTechEx.

During the RFID Asia Summit 2008, Dr. Urachada Ketprom of NECTEC, Thailand's National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, will present how Thailand, the world's largest producer of farm-raised shrimp and the fourth biggest poultry exporter, uses RFID technology for animal and food traceability.

"RFID Asia Summit 2008 presents an opportunity to update current RFID trends and connects people in RFID business or academic together to exchange information and new conceptual idea for new application development," said Dr. Urachada Ketprom.

Contactless Smart Card and Near Field Communication (NFC)
From mass transportation to ID cards, contactless smart card has been the choice for micropayment in cashless society. Now that NFC is ready to turn mobile phones into credit cards and personal payment terminals, mobile commerce has also been redefined. Jupiter Research estimates the total of US$22 billion mobile phone payment transaction by 2011.

Jonathon Gould, Vice President of ViVOtech will share his experience and knowledge about the ecosystem for NFC-enabled mobile payment and mobile commerce, including mobile wallet and digital money. Moreover, the transition from EMV to NFC payment, the latest contactless payment technology, applications, projects and market trends presented by international renowned speakers such as Goh Say Yeow, VP & Director Asia of INSIDE Contactless and Chua Thian Yee, CEO of CASSIS International will also become the inspiring and thought-provoking discussion during the RFID Asia Summit 2008.

"I hope this summit will share with the participants the implementation experience and to do the project right the first time," said Chua Thian Yee of CASSIS International, a leading end-to-end security solution and service provider of smart card innovation, technology and services headquartered in Singapore.

Different from other RFID events, the RFID Asia Summit 2008 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, will integrate conference presentations by a line up of international renowned speakers, RFID Demonstration Rally™, exhibition and networking sessions, making the RFID Asia Summit 2008 a unique one-stop event to learn from RFID experts and business leaders, experience the latest RFID products and meet prospective partners and clients.

ABOUT RFID ASIA SUMMIT 2008
RFID Asia Summit 2008 aims to address the potentials and challenges of RFID technology and harness the economic opportunities in various vertical industries in Indonesia and Asia Pacific region. As the only event in Asia Pacific dedicated for leaders and RFID experts in charge for the development of businesses in the emerging markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 is also endeavored to boost business interests in RFID technology within the region.

Catering the demand for invaluable insights on the latest Auto-ID, RFID, Smart Card and Mobile technology, trends and markets, RFID Asia Summit 2008 will present a line-up of international renowned speakers who will lead intellectually thought-provoking and inspiring conference tracks, RFID demonstrations and business networking sessions.

For more information about the RFID Asia Summit 2008, please visit The Official Website of RFID Asia Summit 2008.

Singapore's First NFC Public Trial Launched

After six weeks of internal Near Field Communication (NFC) service trial involving 30 participants, EZ-Link and StarHub today launched a new phase of trial involving pre-selected customers at the Partners Event held at The Arts House in Singapore.


In the next three days, both EZ-Link and Starhub will distribute 1000 NFC-enabled handsets to their pre-selected customers.NFC Demonstration EZ-Link. The trial participants, in the next 6 months, will have an opportunity to use their new iWOW SZ1.0 handsets for contactless payment services as well as to download information from NFC tags and smart posters available at 32 bus stops along Orchard Road, Wisma Atria Shopping Mall, Orchard MRT station's concourse level, 500 ClearChannel bus shelters, 9 Golden Village Cineplexes and Sony Gallery Stores in Singapore.

Using NFC tags and smart posters conforming to the Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) X 6319-4 or FeliCa standard protocol, the trial participants in Singapore can expect a similar user experience with i-mode FeliCa services that have been used in Japan since 2003.


Singapore Telecommunication (Singtel) and Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore (NETS) have also announced a plan to embark on similar public NFC service trial early next year in cooperation with Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Will NFC become a killer technology

While contactless credit card is still a hot issue in the island-country of Singapore, several vendors in the region have started to buzz the concept of contactless mobile payment during a seminar last week.
The keyword is: NFC. The question is: Will it be a killer technology?

Near-Field Communication or NFC is a short-range 13.56 MHz wireless technology that can transfer data up to 424 kbits/s. Using standardized protocols developed by industry-sponsored NFC Forum, inter-device NFC communication is expected to establish two-way link and exchange data among different consumer products, such as mobile phones, televisions, personal computers and digital cameras. Touching and waving are the most common interaction styles that promise convenience as any other contactless technology. Nevertheless, the current usage of NFC technology is still limited to contactless card payment, contactless mobile payment and interactive smart poster.

Thian Yee Chua, the CEO of CASSIS, during a seminar in Singapore last week, emphasized the need to build an NFC ecosystem, an environment for consumer-service, for a wide adoption of NFC technology. Lim Boon Heong, the Marketing and Business Development Director in NFC business of INSIDE Contactless further detailed the importance of NFC handset availability, win-win business models and an open standard.

Contactless mobile payment is one of the applications highlighted during the seminar. Several pilots planned and initiated have involved major credit card companies, banks, merchants, mobile service providers, mobile network operators, such as: VISA, JCB, MasterCard, CCV Holland B.V, KPN, Nokia, PaySquare, Philips and ViVOtech, SK Telecom, Orange, France Telecom, China Fujian Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., Xiamen Branch and Xiamen E-Tong Card Company Ltd, 2-Eleven, Gemplus, CASSIS.

Yet, Bank of America that has conducted an NFC trial in collaboration with Venyon Oy and its 5000 employees at one of its corporate campus in Delaware reported in May 2007 that the NFC portion of the trial has flopped due to variety reasons, including undesirable mobile phone model and problems in downloading payment application to the handsets.

In addition, a security issue in the form of protocol vulnerabilities may become worse if NFC-enabled mobile phones can act as cards or terminals, can be programmed by their users and can communicate with each other (Anderson, Ross. RFID and the Middleman. Retrieved on 06-08-2007).