Sun's RFID Test Center Offers Complete Tagging And Testing Service - And More

On May 5, Sun Microsystems (Santa Clara, CA) unveiled its 17,000-square-foot RFID test center in Dallas and announced plans for similar centers in Scotland and Asia. Sun's goal is to provide working warehouse environments where companies can test different tagging scenarios and generally experiment with RFID technology.

The Dallas center is a full-scale distribution center (DC) equipped to test solutions for meeting specific RFID compliance requirements. The facility has four dock doors outfitted with RFID reader gateways to test pallet-level reading into and out of the DC. High-speed and low-speed conveyor belts, along with pallet rollers, are available to test read rates under various material handling conditions. One section of the center contains smart shelves for testing storage-location tracking of cases and pallets.

The center uses Provia's (Grand Rapids, MI) ViaWare warehouse management system (WMS) as the supply chain execution software. One of the many capabilities ViaWare provides is the ability to automatically generate Advance Ship Notices (ASNs) from the RFID data.

Sun's collaboration with Provia dates back to their mutual involvement in building the RFID infrastructure for tracking cases and pallets at Gillette's distribution center in Fort Devens, MA. To support Gillette's requirements, Provia upgraded its WMS software to work with EPC (electronic product code) data specifications.

Sun and Provia have learned much from their participation with Gillette and other early adopters. This expertise, coupled with the center's physical environment, can help clients optimize tag placement, determine how product ingredients and packaging affect tag reads, and circumvent other RF interference issues. Its greater potential is as a test lab for exploring how RFID technology can improve one's internal business processes.

To learn more about Sun's RFID Test Center, click here.

Click here for complete list participating partners at The Sun RFID Test Center