You can read more about this at http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety.

David: What are the compelling applications for RFID?

Martyn: The list of applications where RFID adds value is extremely broad. There is a lot of momentum in retail supply chain, primarily focused around the mandates from large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Metro.

Another strong use-case is in asset location tracking, where you are looking to see the actual location of an asset within a defined region such as a warehouse or hospital floor.

Sybase iAnywhere is seeing good uptake in healthcare, particularly around asset tracking, and in cold-chain, which is the supply chain of perishable goods.

David: Sybase manages all the data, right? Or is it that why you're doing an API (Application Programming Interface)?

Martyn: We offer a product called RFID Anywhere, which is flexible software platform that provides a framework API for the development of applications that integrate business logic and processes with a variety of automatic data collection and sensor technologies, including RFID, barcodes, mobile devices, PLCs, location tracking systems, environmental sensors and feedback mechanisms.

By using RFID Anywhere, sensors are able to work together as an intelligent network by combining, organizing and coordinating these technologies through a common management structure, advanced feature set and event-driven development framework.

We also provide a series of messaging connectors to take the data from the intelligent network and deliver it via Web Services, or store it in a persistent data store such as a database, file system or ERP [Enterprise Resource Planning] system such as SAP.

David: What does that API do?

Martyn: RFID Anywhere provides an integration layer into the hardware devices to get the RFID and sensor data, and then we make it easy for developers to build applications that use that data.

The API provides an abstraction layer over the various hardware interfaces allowing developers to focus on their applications and not worrying about hardware integration issues. We also provide ways to filter and sort the data for reporting purposes. Once the data is in the proper format, some companies write this data to a database, some might send messages to existing systems, or some might just write business logic to look for specific events and then send email alerts from RFID Anywhere.

In addition to giving a powerful environment to developers, RFID Anywhere also has a number of features to help streamline deployment of application, to make it easy to manage a system and to do location tracking.

In addition to just supporting RFID devices, it also supports barcodes, mobile devices, environmental sensors, PLCs and real time location systems, all with the same infrastructure making it easy to build systems that require more than just RFID.

David: How would someone go about learning more about this, or even get their hands on the software?

Martyn: We actually get that question a lot, so we have established a developer program called RFID Anywhere Insider, where developers can go to get a free development copy of our software, product documentation, whitepapers, tutorials, etc.

The site is at http://developer.ianywhere.com/rfid and it also offers a monthly newsletter with tech tips and industry information.

We've got one more installment in our exploration of RFID. Martyn will be back next week, where we continue our in-depth Q&A. He'll be talking more about the uses of RFID and where it can be deployed.

James Booth is the Senior Editor at ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he's the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and handheld specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.