Applications focused on electronic tags and GPS are rare in large enterprises, however, the use of such technology is expected to increase significantly as companies are renegotiating wireless contracts. A recent survey of $1 billion+ corporations shows that the focus is now shifting to newer technologies, including VoIP. The survey that was conducted during July 25 and August 2 concludes that such technologies were among the most mentioned as ‘new business applications’ that would change the face of next round of wireless contracts.

Embedded Planet, an Ohio, US based OE manufacturer plans to rollout a low cost RFID reader development kit with built-in Linux support and sample RFID Applications. The kit comes with a PC/104 form-factor single-board computer (SBC) and a PCMCIA-based RFID reader engine.

The SBC that is included in the RFID reader kit is based on a Freescale PowerQUICC I Power PC-based network processor, and can be configured with up to 64MB of flash, 128MB of RAM, up to two 10/100 Ethernet Ports, up to two RS-232 ports, and up to 2 PCMCIA slots.

The kit's PCMCIA RFID Reader engine is offered in two configurations - one with an integral antenna for handheld and short-ranged read operation, and another with connectors for external antennas for longer read range applications.