26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal The Emergence of RFID/EPC and Beyond – Architecture Implications by António Murta

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Agenda Physical objects and Data: two parallel worlds What if the two worlds collapse? Key technological trends coming… … translated into specific technologies “Animated” physical objects: a simple taxonomy Getting real: trace-ability implementations on the Supply Chain Communication between physical objects Concluding remarks: Architecture Implications

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Physical objects and Data: two parallel worlds Implications –Check-in / Check-out –Are the flows in sync? (necessary to check all the time) Reference + Transaction Data Physical Objects In the recent past…

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal What if the two worlds collapse? Implications –Big potential for automation on check-in / check-out –Guaranteed sync between the two worlds –Ethical / Legal: limits of trace-ability / visibility Physical Objects & Reference + Transaction data

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Key technological trends coming... Mobility leading to Pervasiveness Auto-identification –Products –People (?) Patterns of ambient intelligence

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Implications for UMTS (Telco) Implications for customer expectations in some sectors (e.g. hotels, airports) Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Size Price Price Expectations Constraints (current and future) Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Coding limits The code is just a pointer Think of a list of all the static and dynamic attributes of any physical object Call that “The Universal Directory off All Physical Objects” Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Use case 1: Happy Hour! Use case 2: Total Inventory Counts! Is this sufficient to make you wonder what we are talking about? Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal... translated into specific technologies Startbucks leading example Weapons’ trace-ability EAN/UCC standards in Q3/Q MIT Labs Mobile internet everywhere and anytime Full trace-ability made possible A P2P universal directory of all physical objects of the world A server to communicate with N physical objects without wires Wi-Fi rollout RFID on Products EPC Savant Server

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal “Animated” physical objects: a simple taxonomy No RFID tags Passive Tags Active Tags Active and sensing tags No digital interaction potencial Pure scan / auto-id potential Physical object history + state “Proxies” of human beings Intelligent devices That’s today Check-in / Check-out More sophisticated interaction Savant server, our phones Growing degree of ambient intelligence

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Getting real: trace-ability implications on the Supply Chain BIG OPPORTUNITY for –Cost reduction (elimination of check-in / check-out) –Increased supply chain visibility Source: Auto ID Center - IBM Business Consulting Services, 2002 Labour Cost Reduction Impact of RFID on Distribution Centres

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Getting real: trace-ability implications on the Supply Chain Reusable physical asset tagging “From 2005 onwards only electronically tagged cases and pallets will be accepted” Time Item Value / Shrinkage exposure Asset Tracking Full Supply Chain tracking Pallet/Case Tracking Single Item tracing for internal purposes Item Tracking New models of customer interaction with physical products

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Communication between physical objects What about the impact of all this on day-to-day life? –Can my phone ask my tie where did I buy it and for how much? –What about your phone? –What about my shirt? –What do shirts debate with ties? “Someday, objects will be wide-ranging and have deep conversations with other objects, and their silent form of commerce will be the rule.” Glover Fergueson, Harvard Business Review, June 2002

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Concluding Remarks: Architecture implications Ambient Intelligence as “The Bridge” Extreme “Centralization” (P2P) Extreme Pervasiveness The computer is... Everything! “Universal Directory of Physical Products” for the rescue (yet another component of the Semantic Web)

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal Concluding Remarks: Architecture Implications Emergent notions = “Object field”, Personal Area Networks (eg. ZigBee) Need to orchestrate the interaction between objects Some objects will be “proxies” of us (P-Comm concept) Towards a more “Matrix-like” Architecture: Atoms... + Bits!

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal TAGUSPARK – Construção de um Futuro 26 de Janeiro de 2004