Leading FMCG Pilots RFID
By Sonal Desai
Mumbai, Jan 3, 2007

Barely a month old in the Indian market, US-based Axcess International Inc, is piloting its patented product Dual-Active RFID at a leading FMCG company manufacturing soaps and detergents in north India.

Intercode Solutions is facilitating equipment installation and training.

Intercode however, is not willing to name the FMCG and said, "We are yet to install the equipment. We have received the letter of intent. The company will test our technology for a month and will place a purchase order later."

Disclosing the requirements of the FMCG, Royston Rodrigues, CTO, Intercode, said, "We will place personal identity and asset identification tags on 150 employees and laptops. The employees will be chiefly from the IT department besides other executives."

At present, the company is setting up a point of contact and is in the process of installing two network equipments, four activators, besides attaching the personal and asset Ids. Flex antennae will be installed on the ceiling inside and outside the entry and exit points.

An electronic article surveillance chart will be placed at the central office. Once the person or an asset (the laptop in this case) passes through the entry or exit points, the activator will activate the RFID tags. The code numbers will be registered at the board. If a person picks-up a laptop that is not his, the entry will be registered in the chart, and an automated alert signal will send out a SOS to the security personnel through a SMS or a phone call. The activators can activate 100 tags at a time.

The system has reduced laptop thefts in the US to a very large extent, remarked Rodrigues, "We aim to reduce such thefts even in India. Laptop thefts not only entail the theft of an asset, but loss of precious data."

Intercode is also in discussion with major IT companies for similar projects.