The realistic, no-hype guide to RFID evaluation, planning, and deployment

Approaching crucial decisions about Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology? This book will help you make choices that maximize the business value of RFID technology and minimize its risks. IBM's Sandip Lahiri, an experienced RFID solution architect, presents up-to-the-minute insight for evaluating RFID; defining optimal strategies, blueprints, and timetables; and deploying systems that deliver what they promise.

Drawing on his experience, Lahiri offers candid assessments of RFID's potential advantages, its technical capabilities and limitations, and its business process implications. He identifies pitfalls that have tripped up early adopters, and shows how to overcome or work around them. This must-have resource can also act as a reference guide to any nontechnical person who wants to know about the technology.

From building business cases to testing tags, this book shares powerful insights into virtually every issue you're likely to face. Coverage includes

• RFID "reality check": getting beyond the hype and the counterreaction

• Aligning RFID strategy with business strategy

• Assessing applications, both prevalent and emerging

• Identifying opportunities to use RFID beyond supply chain applications

• Choosing between RFID and barcodes

• Realistically assessing potential ROI, one step at a time

• Designing solutions that leverage RFID's advantages while overcoming its performance limitations

• Understanding business flows impacted by a potential RFID deployment

• Defining realistic roadmaps and timelines

• Addressing oft-neglected real-world issues, from tag validation through managing expectations

• Dealing with standards

RFID Sourcebook will help you ask the tough questions...build the right applications...avoid costly mistakes...work more effectively with suppliers and partners...time your initiative...even find alternatives to RFID when that makes sense. Whatever your role in RFID strategy, planning, or execution, have Sandip Lahiri's experience and knowledge on your side: You'll dramatically improve your odds of success.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 15 Ratings

Clear well-written book on RFID - 2006-07-19
Reviewer Rating:
Radio frequency identification or RFID is not a new technology. The earliest US patent for a passive (no battery) RFID tag that I know of was issued in 1973. Others trace the beginnings of RFID to the use of radio transponders for aircraft identification in World War II. In recent years, RFID has become a pervasive technology; its use is widespread. The users do not often realize that they are using it. Examples include electronic toll collection, electronic credit cards like the Speedpass, employee access control, pet identification, and automobile immobilizers. These applications total tens of millions of users.

The recent interest in the subject of RFID has resulted from the implementation of passive tags for the tracking of pallets and cases in the retail supply chain. The numbers of tags that may be used here figures in the tens of billions per year. If the RFID industry can make the tags at a low enough cost, the potential for labelling individual items is around one trillion per year. No wonder this industry is experiencing explosive growth and the interest to go with it.

In this book, the author gives us a comprehensive introduction to the world of RFID. The presentation is quite clear, readable, and without technical jargon. It does not require a technical background. Details are kept at a high level. The author is careful to present the benefits and drawbacks to every technology discussed. Individual chapters include: Technology Overview, Advantages of the Technology, Limitations of the Technology, Privacy Concerns, RFID vs. Bar Code, Strategy, Business Justification, RFID Solutions, and Standards.

The book is named appropriately. This is a sourcebook. There are lists of standards, vendors, conferences, organizations and their web sites. This is the best book on RFID that I have read.

Just the facts, maam - 2006-06-09
Reviewer Rating:
I am just getting up to speed on RFID and found this book to be both authoritative and approachable, clear and complete. Mr. Lahiri lays out the important details and limitations of RFID technology and applications as they exist today and as they will evolve in the future. Helpful appendices provide very useful information on industry players, organizations, web sites, etc.

I highly recommend this book.

The book on RFID - 2006-05-26
Reviewer Rating:
This is a valiant effort from Sandip to provide right mixture of content appopriately and right point. The content flow is really amazing and it brings hardware engineer , software engineer , project managers and executives to be able to have differnt orthogonal understanding of the same topic.It provides foundation to further explore the possibilities of RFID which is still in infancy.Great piece of work !!!

Good analytical view of RFID line of business - 2009-04-22
Reviewer Rating:
Sandip has been one of the good experts in RFID area and I believe anyone entering in this space must read this book.
This book explains basics of RFID from both technical and business perspective. Once you plan to implement RFID in your organization, the project management section helps you to plan for the pilot and then implementation.

This book is a great companion for RFID consultants and end users alike.

Hoping to see a sequel to this book.

Great approach for ramping up RFID skills - 2009-03-12
Reviewer Rating:
The book has been named appropriately. I am not an expert in RFID, but I do have an interest in knowing about the technology and try to leverage for some practical work in my expertise - healthcare. The book does an extremely good job to educate a newcomer in this technology like me with examples and the choice of words are good -- in plain and simple English words. Great job, Kudos to the author

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