Smaller Firms are Dominating RFID
A new study shows smaller firms have dominated some segments of Wal-Mart’s RFID roll out. Incucomm released the results in its new study, “Wal-Mart’s RFID Deployment – How is it Going?”
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) January 10, 2005 -- The study reports some Wal-Mart
suppliers are routinely achieving 100% read rates. It provides an assessment of
the tasks that still face suppliers not performing at this level, or who lack
the capacity to ship in volumes needed in late 2005.
The study details
the market share won to date by various RFID vendors. In some segments,
established Auto ID firms like Zebra and Symbol are faring well.
But,
established RFID silicon vendors are using a 'fast follower' strategy, and so
far are giving up market share to newer firms like Alien and Impinj. Incucomm’s
research raises questions about the viability of the strategy used by TI and
Philips.
Incucomm’s research showed that SAP was the only major
enterprise software provider capturing significant RFID related market
share.
Smaller firms such as R4 and Xterprise are also dominating systems
integration efforts. A telephone survey of more than 100 Wal-Mart suppliers
indicates this will probably continue, since few of them use large firms for
systems integration today.
Even among the top 10 Wal-Mart suppliers,
Incucomm's research showed that some had conducted RFID systems integration
internally, and some had used small firms, such as Xterprise. The fact that only
about half of largest suppliers have a Big Five integrator suggests a tough
sales environment in the smaller Wal-Mart suppliers.
“In the IT services
segment, large firms as a group have less than a 35% market in most years,” said
Steve Roemerman, CEO of Incucomm. So, it is not a surprise that smaller firms
are having a degree of success in RFID.
In addition, Roemerman said that
the purchase decision makers for RFID solutions often included operations,
warehousing, and distribution managers. “These kinds of managers are pragmatic,
and are not easily swayed by assurances based only on brand name,” Roemerman
said.
Based on discussions with executives from the major IT systems
integrators, Incucomm found they agreed that RFID had not generated major
re-engineering projects, and that smaller firms would probably enjoy an ongoing
market share advantage. “We believe the larger firms will partner with the
smaller RFID specialists in 2005 or 2006,” Roemerman said, “and, we believe the
early evidence will be clear in 2005.”
The a free synopsis of the study
is available at www.incucomm.com
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb195700.htm