ABI Research Releases Results of Container Security Tracking Survey

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004--Technology market analysts ABI Research today released the results of an industry survey of the freight container security tracking industry.

This industry, still in its infancy, is set to grow dramatically due to increasing security concerns worldwide and, as survey respondents noted, gains from supply chain optimization. A questionnaire was sent to container lessors, shipping lines, RFID vendors, software developers, telematics service providers, and container manufacturers. A high percentage of the companies that participated were software developers and RFID vendors.

The results of the survey are available free of charge at www.abiresearch.com/download_CSTsurvey.jsp

The questions ranged from "What is the primary focus of your company" to "Who do you see as your primary end-use customer" to "how would you rank the leading market barriers."

According to ABI Research analyst David Schrier, "The primary barrier was the lack of standards. There's an apprehensiveness in the industry about investing in technology that they're not particularly sure will come to fruition. They've taken a wait-and-see attitude."

Other responses illuminated the industry's feelings about appropriate pricing levels for annual subscriptions to cellular, satellite-based and RFID technologies.

An accompanying white paper details the technologies used in container security tracking: Global Positioning System (GPS), cellular, satellite, Bluetooth, Ultrawideband (UWB), Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Zigbee.

ABI Research has also published a study of the industry, "Container Security Tracking: Applications of GPS, RFID and Cellular Technologies for Supply Chain and Homeland Security", in which key market drivers are identified, with a thorough examination of the relevant issues and market players for each major region.