Intermec Technologies Corp. West, Everett, Wash., has announced the availability of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) products and services that comply with the requirements for the U.S. Department of Defense's universal identification initiative (UID).

The Department of Defense has asked suppliers to include UID identification markings on products supplied to the government by 2005. A UID product marking system can include RFID, bar coding and other types of automatic identification.
"Today's announcement by the Department of Defense underscores the promise and future of RFID technology at the heart of the supply chain," said Intermec Vice President Mike Wills, who leads Intermec's RFID initiatives.
RFID technologies are a complement to industry's current bar code-based tracking systems and allow companies to automatically track inventory throughout an entire supply chain.
RFID automatic data collection does not require line of sight or manual scanning as do most bar code-based systems. Information from RFID-tagged cases on a pallet can be read automatically using fixed, mobile or handheld readers rather than requiring individual case bar code scanning. Intermec's Intellitag RFID technology adds the capability to change and update the information on each tag as it proceeds, providing new levels of up-to-date information for better decision making.
For more information visit www.intermec.com.