Retailers likely to draw in-store capabilities from EAS & RFID

03 Apr '08

2 min read

ADT announces its support of a landmark study by the University of Arkansas Information Technology Research Institute that tested and compared the effectiveness of both EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for perimeter theft protection in a retail environment.

"This research was important because we believe EAS and RFID are complementary technologies that can provide retailers with several approaches to preventing theft while improving operational efficiency, depending on their needs," said Stanley Kong, Vice President, ADT Retail Sales and Services for Asia.

"Many retailers can benefit from dual EAS-RFID functionality while others may require a sequential, layered approach," Stanley said. "Ultimately this research will help retailers develop strategies to guide their decisions about the most cost-effective way to deploy these technologies."

RFID is a 60-year-old technology that has been used outside the retail space for decades. Now, with the release of the Class 1, Generation 2 UHF protocol, RFID is emerging as an in-store application to streamline operations and inventory management.

Given ADT's extensive experience with RFID, it considers the apparel industry may be well-suited to be a natural early adopter of the technology because apparel is considered an RFID-friendly environment. In contrast, UHF RFID does not perform well on liquids, metallic packaging and many types of boxed goods. It also has practical drawbacks such as the cost and size of RFID tags, hang-tag integrity, and the cost of an RFID infrastructure in these applications.

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