Intel and SAP announce RFID alliance

Software maker SAP and microchip maker Intel will work together to encourage companies to adopt RFID technology, the companies said Thursday.

The two companies said the collaboration would allow customers to integrate data collected from RFID chips, which are attached to objects to track them, either directly into Intel-based servers or through SAP's NetWeaver software platform.

In a statement at the CeBIT electronics fair taking place in Hannover this week, they said the joint effort "aims to make RFID technology easier to use and help companies overcome the common hurdles they face in creating viable business cases for RFID implementations."

RFID technology is more than half a century old and offers the possibility of easily tracking objects by linking them into information systems via wireless tags, but high costs and technology integration problems have prevented mass adoption.

The technology is used by some large retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores and Metro, to make their supply chains more efficient.

SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, has also been quietly campaigning on the political front to ward off opposition from groups concerned that RFID will make new methods of privacy invasion possible.

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