RFID Essentials - O'Reilly's Latest Release

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or an interview with
the authors, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7094 or kathrynb@oreilly.com

Beyond Finding Lost Cats and Tracking Parcels
O'Reilly Releases "RFID Essentials"

Sebastopol, CA--Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is rapidly changing
the way business is being conducted. From Wal-Mart to the Department of
Defense, the benefits of RFID are quickly being realized. Although the
software, integration, and data processing side of RFID still presents a
challenge in many organizations. Reports have told us that over one
billion RFID tags were produced in 2005 and in five years that could be
over thirty billion. What exactly is RFID? How does it work? What can it
do? Is it more than that little bit of something under the skin of my
cat?

These and similar questions prompted Himanshu Bhatt and Bill Glover to
write "RFID Essentials" (O'Reilly, US $39.99). Bhatt explains their
thinking, "To some extent we thought about writing this book as we were
looking for one like it when starting out with our work on RFID at Sun.
What we found were books that were either focused on the physics and the
RF/electronics side of RFID and some that were on 'marketecture.' We
thought, with RFID technologies and standards in their inception phase, it
would be good to have a book that would somehow demystify the workings of
an RFID system."

Glover concurs, "There were books on the business case for RFID, and books
on the physics and engineering details, but nothing that really spanned
the place in between where a developer or solution architect has to take
the requirements and the technology and put together a system that
works."

"Our book provides a conceptual view of RFID and explains the important
components without getting too deep," says Bhatt. "Whenever you are faced
with something that sounds brand new, it is important to see how that maps
to what you already know so that you can use all your past experience to
improve the odds of success. We focus on an architectural view of RFID
systems so that important qualities such as security, scalability,
manageability, performance, are covered right from the start."

Because of the developing standards and growing demand, RFID has begun to
mature as a technology, and according to the authors of "RFID Essentials,"
we'll see more widespread usage of it in our day-to-day lives. "When
someone needs to keep track of something, more and more often they'll need
to at least consider RFID as part of the solution," Glover observes. He
believes that RFID will soon be as commonplace as barcodes, but will go
places and do things that barcodes never could. "Attaching an ID to
physical objects is just the first step in making these objects a part of
the growing network of information we use every day. Almost everyone will
use RFID in one way or another in the coming years; many of us already do
and don't realize it."

As Bhatt and Glover point out, a Google news search on any given day will
turn up hundreds of RFID stories: the state of Colorado is hoping to
protect elk herds in part by using RFID to track them; drug manufacturers
are deploying RFID to help fight counterfeit drugs; sea ports in
California are using RFID to improve security; and the US government plans
to incorporate RFID into every new passport with initial trials beginning
this month.

"RFID Essentials" is for developers, system and software architects, and
project managers, as well as students and professionals in all the
industries impacted by RFID who want to understand how this technology
works. As the title suggests, this book is about RFID in general and not
just the most recent developments, but it will provide readers with the
information and understanding they need to start designing, building, or
integrating with RFID systems. Topics covered include:

-Tags and Tag Protocols including Electronic Product Code (EPC)
-Readers and Reader Protocols
-RFID Middleware
-Security and Privacy
-Managing RFID Devices
-Architecture

Early praise for "RFID Essentials":

"Bill and Himanshu have put together a true tour de force of RFID
technologies. The breadth and depth of their coverage of this emerging
space will leave few wanting. Presented in an accessible yet technically
relentless manner, the authors expose the merely curious to more than they
bargained for and surprise even the most hardened RFID expert with new
insights and understandings. This is a must read for RFID software and
solution architects, and is highly recommended for anyone who needs to
gain insight into the myriad of components, standards, and technologies
that make up an RFID solutions environment."
--Bryan Tracy, Chief Architect, GlobeRanger Corporation

Additional Resources:

Chapter 1, "An Introduction to RFID," is available online at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rfid/chapter/index.html

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bios, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rfid/

For a cover graphic in JPEG format, go to:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/0596009...

RFID Essentials
Bill Glover and Himanshu Bhatt
ISBN: 0-596-00944-5, 260 pages, $39.99 US, $55.99 CA
order@oreilly.com
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