Keynotes announced for RFID World 2007

Mar 13, 2007 4:16 PM

Kevin Ashton, vice president of ThingMagic, and Robert Willett, chief executive officer of Best Buy Intl., will be presenting the opening day keynote addresses at the 5th Annual RFID World (www.rfid-world.com/rfid07/) on March 27 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Dallas.

In a speech entitled, "RFID Next: Innovations in RFID for 2007 and Beyond," Ashton will be joined by ThingMagic Chief Technology Officer Yael Maguire, and together they will look at what's changing in RFID technology and demonstrate some of the new inventions and products bringing benefits such as 100-percent read rates, lower prices, more mobility and more ubiquity.

Ashton co-founded the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts of Institute of Technology (MIT), becoming its executive director, and led that organization to invent the Electronic Product Code (EPC) system for ubiquitous RFID. As a brand manager at Procter & Gamble, he was among the first people to recognize the revolutionary potential of low-cost RFID. Maguire holds a Ph.D from MIT and has been recognized as a Top 100 innovator under 35 by Technology Review magazine, and a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

As CEO of Best Buy International and CIO of Best Buy, Willett also leads its global sourcing and supply chain operations for the nation's largest retailer of consumer electronics. Willett's address, "How RFID is Innovating the Retail Customer Experience," will focus on the company's RFID case, pallet and item-level tagging pilots that have taken place since January 2006. Packaged entertainment media (e.g. DVDs, and videogames) are being tested at the item-level to improve customer service, in-stock availability and to speed up tasks such as re-stocking shelves.

According to Willett, entertainment media was selected for the challenges it presents due to metal content, small package size and high volumes. He says the company is also exploring the advantages of using RFID to track consumer electronics products from its manufacturers to store shelves.

Day one of RFID World 2007 also features a general session on "Who Moved the RFID Cheese?" A panel of leading experts from the major RFID analyst firms, including ABI Research, Robert W. Baird & Company and Venture Development Corp., will participate in a discussion about where the market is heading, including what projections they missed and why. Attendees can expect answers to the market's toughest questions from a panel of industry editors.

For more information about RFID World and to register, visit www.rfid-world.com/rfid07/, or call 1.800.608.9641.

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