U.S. Department of Defense Selects Symbol RFID Technology

May 24, 2005
Symbol's technology to be used at military installations for tracking of materials throughout supply chain.

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. -- Symbol Technologies, Inc., The Enterprise Mobility Company(TM), announced today that the Army Contracting Agency (ACA) Information Technology, E-Commerce and Commercial Contracting Center (ITEC4) awarded five Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) for Symbol's Electronic Product Code (EPC)-compliant class 0 and 1 multi-protocol fixed RFID readers. This will allow the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to install and use Symbol's RFID technology in military installations around the world to track materials and supplies throughout the agency supply chain.

A BPA is a DoD procedure that establishes a virtual paperless ordering process. The DoD issued the BPAs as part of the agency's mandate for the use of RFID technology to improve efficiency and cost-savings throughout its supply chain with the ultimate goal of saving taxpayer dollars. With the award of the BPAs, Symbol's RFID readers are now available to help the DoD track everything from tanks to toilet paper and achieve the agency's vision of accurate, real-time data capture and processing. The awards were made to Symbol's strategic partners: CDO Technologies Inc., Cheval Rouge, RSI ID Technologies, SYS-TEC Corp., and WFI Government Services, Inc., and call for the use of Symbol's fixed, multi-protocol RFID reader.

"Symbol congratulates our partners on these awards and looks forward to working closely with them in the coming months," said Brian Lehmann, senior director, government solutions group, Symbol Technologies. "These wins validate Symbol's channel centric go-to-market strategy and role in providing innovative RFID solutions that integrate seamlessly into our customers' enterprise infrastructure."

Designed for industrial use, Symbol's multi-protocol reader provides advanced data capture to read, write, process and communicate information from all electronic product code (EPC)-compliant passive RFID tags for the immediate, automatic and accurate identification of any item within the supply chain. The multi-protocol RFID reader joins a portfolio of Symbol enterprise mobility solutions that enable organizations to capture, move and manage critical information to and from the point of business activity providing accountability and cost-savings.

"RFID will definitely improve how the DoD does business, and we believe Symbol Technologies offers the best RFID solution," stated E.J. Vincent, president, Cheval Rouge. "We are excited to be a part of the DoD team."