Opportunities and Challenges of RFID/Auto-ID Technology to Business Applications
Dr. Tao Lin, Director of Auto-ID Research, SAP Research, SAP Labs, USA

Associating a unique identification with each tagged physical object and enabling
operation automation are two critical features that RFID/Auto-ID technology brings
to business applications. With these two features, business applications can deal with each individual physical object globally and can handle physical objects without human involvement. RFID/Auto-ID technology can extend current business
applications in another two layers: device layer that is to enable business decisions to happen much closer to physical world; global layer that is to greatly enable global business collaborations based on the global unique identifications of the physical objects. With RFID/Auto-ID technology, the functionality in the current business application layer can be enhanced and new business applications can also be developed in these two new layers. In this presentation, we will discuss the opportunities, technical challenges, and some research issues in these two new layers, and also to the current business applications.