Alien Technology introduces enhanced RFID reader

"The ALR-9680 further bolsters Alien's growing reader product family at a compelling new price point," said Mike Frieswyk, Alien Technology, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "This new reader brings the flexibility of 4-antenna ports and Alien Reader Protocol, which adds local intelligence and processing inside the reader and reduces the processing overhead required elsewhere in the system."

Housed in a slim-height metal chassis, the rugged reader is built to survive in rough environments that may also require low height clearance. Many ALR-9680 features are geared to lowering the cost of set-up and system implementation, including:

4 monostatic-antenna ports that lend themselves to low-cost antenna systems;

-Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) that takes power from any existing Ethernet infrastructure, eliminating the need for external power supplies; and

-Autonomous mode of operation that reduces network traffic and minimizes central processing, helping make large roll-outs more scalable.

-The ALR-9680 shares common software architecture with the Alien ALR-9650 integrated antenna "smart reader." This allows customers and partners to easily port their solutions across the product range with minimal effort.

-The ALR-9680 is suitable for small cost-sensitive roll-outs or, due to the on-reader processing; the reader can be used in large-scale implementations that want to minimize the amount of central processing consumed by each reader. This local-processing allows for increased scalability and reduced central compute infrastructure and cost. The inclusion of PoE with this form-factor also allows the reader to be used in tight areas that have no power supply.

The ALR-9680 joins Alien's other reader products:

-ALR-9650: Integrated antenna "smart reader"

-ALR-9900+: Enterprise class 4-port reader

-ALH-90xx: Family of four compact "connected" handheld readers

The ALR-9680 is available today in North America and China, with other regions to follow. It will also be demonstrated at RFID Journal LIVE April 30 - May 2, 2013 in Orlando, Fla., at the Alien Booth (#326).

About Alien Technology

Founded in 1994, Alien Technology is a leading technology and product provider of UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Integrated Circuits (IC), tags, readers and professional services. Alien Gen 2 products, along with software solutions from partners, help solve business problems for customers to improve productivity, processes, security and asset tracking for closed-loop and supply chain systems. These solutions are implemented in industries such as consumer packaged goods, retail apparel, manufacturing, transportation, airports and cargo logistics, government and defense, and more. Alien's facilities include corporation headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA; the Alien RFID Solutions Center in the Dayton, OH region; and a sales office in Shanghai, China. Alien is a member of EPCglobal.

Alien Technology