Okay, so it's not startling news, but it's worth pointing out that we are seeing a classic, healthy adoption curve of a technology that, while it's not screamingly sexy, is just plain useful, saves a ton of time and money, and well, isn't that nice to see?
At first, RFID was implemented in industrial laundry (think hospitals) and libraries -- places where tracking items was important, but not mission critical. Then it was picked up by companies needing to track their mass amounts of cash in transit (pretty mission critical, I'd say). Now, RFID is entering in to the
supply chain in a number of other industries including hospitals and
pharmaceutical companies which have a high level of risk
due to the threat of counterfeiting and the transport of sensitive biological materials, and it's notable that the FDA recently took a stand to support the
inclusion of RFID in its regulatory discussions surrounding the
pharmaceutical industry. And RFID is even being adopted by airports and the less innovative courier industry.
Just today, TrueDemand, which specializes in systems that integrate with wireless RFID tagging -- not the tags or the tagging systems themselves, mind you -- announced US $8 million in second round funding, according to redherring.com (see article, here). Outbuilding around the technology (not unlike those ridiculous iPod socks) is proof of health.
However, no one company has gone as far as to protect what really matters as Pfizer, which included
RFID tags on its Viagra medication, one of its most important
products. Mission critical indeed.