a		a

Wireless printing is a relatively new tool available for retailers. Although wireless networking and computing are widespread in store operations, relatively few retailers have leveraged these investments with complementary wireless printing applications. Retailers can now take advantage of wireless printing regardless of existing wireless systems. Whether the application is replacing a printer cable or running full applications and downloading graphics from a high-speed wireless network, proven, cost-effective wireless printing technology is now available. Most wireless printers are compatible with the popular networking options and offer flexibility for easy future upgrades.

Wireless printing applications can lower total in-store printing expenses and provide total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits as compared with traditional printers and thereby improve labour efficiency, reduce store operating expenses, improve safety, and finally increase customer satisfaction.

In wireless printers, radio frequency (RF) or infrared light (IR) interface is used either to connect the printer to the network, to a controlling PC or hand-held computer, or all. They come in different sizes and shapes, from full-featured tabletop models to small, mobile printers that may be clipped to a belt, carried by hand, or worn on a holster. So they consume less space and are easy to deploy and use. Some existing tabletop printers can also be wirelessly enabled through expansion cards or modems without compromising quality or features.

For retailers, wireless printers are especially valuable in the shipping and receiving area for re-labelling, shipping label creation and returns processing, and on the selling floor for shelf-labeling, shelf price auditing, price marking, mobile and temporary point-of-sale stations, coupon printing, and sign creation. Some of the common deployments include: Shipping & Receiving, Shelf Labelling, Shelf Price Auditing, Price Verification Kiosks, Price Changes & Item Labelling, Mobile POS, and Returns Processing.

Prevalent Cable Replacement Technologies include Short Range Radio Frequency (SRRF), Infrared Light (IR), Bluetooth™ Technology. There were initial concerns that Bluetooth devices would cause interference for other wireless networks used in retail and industrial settings but testing by the Wireless LAN Association (WLANA) has shown that Bluetooth can coexist with other common wireless networks and is well suited as a cable-replacement technology. Bluetooth was developed to enable devices to interface with each other within a 30-foot (9 m) range, independent of a server or access points. The technology allows a maximum of eight devices communicating with each other in what is called a "piconet."

The common Networking Technologies are:

• 802.11 (pronounced eight-oh-two-dot-eleven) is a series of wireless networking standards developed and maintained by IEEE. Also referred to as Wi-Fi™, it is the most widely used standard and offers performance sufficient for most retail needs. It allows up to 11Mbps (megabits per second) data rates.

• Spectrum24® is a family of proprietary wireless networking products developed by Symbol Technologies, the leading provider of wireless systems to retailers. It uses 2.4GHz RF technology at data rates from 211Mbps onwards, depending on the product.

• OpenAir™ is another commonly used family of wireless networking products that predates 802.11. It is a proprietary technology developed by Proxim and supported by multiple vendors that manufacture compatible PC cards, access points, and other products. OpenAir uses 2.4GHz frequency-hopping RF technology and offers 12Mbps data rates.

Risks to Adoption of RFID

• The high cost per tag: The cost of RFID tags is 25 to 30 cents (USD) per tag, down from 40 cents (USD) in 2002. It typically makes sense to place tags only at the packages product level (pallet or carton), or on the highest-margin products, where the tags represent much less than 1 per cent of the total cost of the product. With demand increasing and production costs declining, the tags are expected to reach 5 cents per tag in 2006.

• Mountains of data, who is going to mine it? The location of pallets, cases, cartons, totes and individual products in the supply chain, the activities of picking and shipping, the tracking of expiration dates, and recalls will all produce mountains of real time data. RFID applications will generate a lot of "thin" data – data pertaining to time and location – which should also prove valuable for determining product seasonality and other trends.

• Limited edge computing power: Most retail outlets are not tuned to handle the data and information workload required to make RFID effective at the product level. Reaping the rewards will require a large investment in computing power, bandwidth, storage, IT operations and administration per store.

• Product-level tagging does not always work: Current tags do not transmit well on certain products, such as liquids or metals. This limits the overall benefit of RFID until the problem can be resolved.

• Complexity and required investment levels: RFID implementation is complex in all ways: process re-engineering, integration, maintenance, data storage, and design and deployment. A full implementation on an accelerated cycle could require a full year's IT budget and resources. As a result, most companies have only rolled out limited pilots and are cautious to commit to boarder deployments.

• No one standard for technology: Above all, as yet there is no one standard for the technology and nowhere is the lack of a global standard more vexing than with the most basic elements of RFID. Not all tags and readers can communicate with each other. So a retailer might need to have two or more types of readers in its warehouses to read different tags from different hardware vendors. Therefore, there's no universal interoperability among hardware equipment.

• Acts abnormally when it's near certain elements: Liquids, metals, porous objects might not just be suited for RFID. Unilever has had similar problems with its products containing liquids and moisture. Hewlett-Packard has reported problems with its ink-jet cartridges, which contain ink and metal, and are wrapped in metalised paper.

RFID: Privacy and Security Issues

As more customised technologies evolve, the issues of privacy and security will take centre stage. In order to ensure privacy, customers would have to opt into a programme where special offers are presented to them in-store via a Bluetooth-enabled device. Bluetooth gives retailers the ability to add a Java applet to a phone or a PDA that can only be read by the store the customer is in, so the customer is not constantly bombarded with outside offers. Security issues will also become an increasing concern as more stores add high-speed Internet connections.

The IBM Privacy Research Institute is working with retailers and other businesses to develop technologies and guidelines to protect consumer privacy, while enabling retailers to obtain the necessary data. Hopping at IBM predicts that privacy concerns will be a non-issue if retailers pay attention to how to protect their customers.

“We're tracking something like 1,500 retail hacker incidences a month now,” he reveals. “Last year, there were 76,000 hacker attacks on companies in just six months."

With hacking and viruses on the rise, retailers need to take precautions to ensure that their systems and data are secure.

Whatever the risks involved, companies are already exploring more advanced uses for RFID: Tyre manufacturers have embedded RFID chips in tyres to determine – with greater accuracy – time to failure; Pharmaceutical companies have embedded RFID chips in drug containers to better track and avert the theft of highly controlled drugs; and so on.

Going a step further, very recently New York based Mediamark Research has announced plans to test RFID tags to be printed on the pages of magazines so that it allows detailed measurements on how much time magazine readers spend reading articles and looking at advertising.