Alien Technology Wins U.S. Government BPA Award To Supply Multi-Protocol RFID Readers

Alien Technology today announced the award of a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) from the Army Contracting Agency (ACA) Information Technology, E-Commerce and Commercial Contracting Center (ITEC4), for multi-protocol Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Electronic Product Code (EPC) readers. The BPA award is part of a Government project to provide a state-of-the-art, common, integrated structure for logistic identification, tracking, locating, and monitoring of commodities and assets throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) based on passive RFID EPC-1 technology.

Serving all DoD branches, the BPA award covers the Alien ALR-9770 Series of multi-protocol readers. In accord with the specifications laid out by the ACA ITEC4, ALR-9770 Series readers support current EPC protocols (Class 1 Gen 1 and Class 0) within the same sphere of influence and are upgradeable to Class 1 Gen 2, thus supporting the Government's desired plug and play environment for electronic data collection. This is the second BPA awarded by the ACA to Alien this year. In March, the company was awarded a BPA for passive RFID EPC-1 tags. "This announcement is a further acknowledgement of Alien's leadership in providing state-of-the-art RFID EPC solutions and underscores our ability to supply both high performance, flexible reader solutions and high volumes of low-cost tags," said Keith McDonald, Sr. V.P. Sales & Marketing, Alien Technology Corporation. "The DoD's commitment to RFID is well known and we are pleased to be participating in its continuing mass deployment of RFID EPC technology."

According to the ACA ITEC4, RFID EPC-1 technologies are applicable across the DoD in areas such as inventory and warehousing environments; supply chain tracking, control of maintenance, repair, and tracking facilities; control of entry and exit points of military facilities, and roadside installations; control of transactions at custody exchange points (e.g., weapons issue facilities); the military transportation community (e.g., seaports and air terminals); the handling of hazardous explosives; and for otherwise regulated materials.

More information is available at http://www.cecomacw.army.mil under "awarded contracts."

About Alien Technology
Alien Technology Corporation is a leading provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products for global customers in government, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and other industries. Using its patented manufacturing process, Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA), Alien manufactures EPC tags in very high-volumes and at low cost. The company provides a family of RFID readers for a variety of applications including supply chain management, logistics, and anti-counterfeiting, to improve inventory management and reduce operating costs. Alien is an active member of EPCglobal. More information about Alien Technology Corporation can be found on the Company's website at www.alientechnology.com.