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RFID Middleware Market on the Rise
Article courtesy of Frontline RFID
July 20, 2005 -- The world market for RFID middleware totaled $23.39 million in 2004, and could reach $220.43 million by 2011, according to new research from Frost & Sullivan.
As more companies face mandates to use RFID tags within their supply chains, the volume of data from those tags will increase. RFID middleware is one solution to the data challenge, and provides a way to integrate legacy warehouse management systems (WMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with RFID.
"Middleware vendors need to keep in mind the fact that users would be commissioning their hardware systems from multiple vendors for reasons such as vendor proximity, trusted partners, and order volume," said Soumilya Banerjee, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
During the next few years, the middleware market will continue to be redefined, and mostly likely experience some significant consolidation, according to a report from AMR Research Inc.
Most companies have been "bargain shopping," according to AMR, and the software market itself is relatively immature. However, several key functional areas have emerged in the middleware space, which AMR recommends evaluating closely:
- Event management: There has been a lot of customization in early deployments to deal with exceptions from bad tags, low read rates, and new processes for employees. A good framework for building event-based applications is critical.
- Availability and performance: Middleware tools should be reliable, and include strong reader and antenna monitoring and management. According to AMR, most reference customers considered middleware products weak in this area, which was partly because of the immaturity of existing hardware.
- EPC numbering: Middleware should also manage blocks of Electronic Product Code (EPC) numbers that are encoded on the tags in a distributed environment. Several customers expressed concern about the scalability of middleware for this function.
AMR further defined an RFID middleware stack that, from top to bottom, includes enterprise workflows to support interaction between enterprise applications and lower levels of the stack; enterprise integration for back-end applications; local workflow for edge-specific event management to enable onsite decision making; local data management; and device management.
The middleware market is divided into several categories now. Companies like OATSystems, ConnecTerra, GlobeRanger, and GenuOne are considered RFID specialists. Many of these companies have now turned their attention to developing application capabilities.
Traditional automation vendors like Acsis, Brooks Automation, and ClearOrbit have strong device and data management capabilities. Infrastructure providers like IBM, Oracle, Sun, BEA, and Microsoft have also entered the market.
Enterprise application integration (EAI) vendors have largely relied on partnerships to tackle RFID. WebMethods, for instance, has teamed with OATSystems, and SeeBeyond has partnered with Sun.
Application vendors have developed some of their own capabilities, although many warehouse management system providers rely on partnerships with specialists like GlobeRanger and OATSystems for their middleware functionality.
By late 2006, AMR expects the market to consolidate, with clear winners and losers emerging.
Vendors are already forming alliances. "There are partnerships between hardware vendors and network architecture providers, between middleware vendors and enterprise applications solution providers, and between middleware vendors and systems integrators," said Banerjee. "Such alliances create solutions, which increase the ease of deployment for end users and also boost a vendor's reach."
Banerjee added that the middleware market will be constrained by cautious manufacturers concerned about return on investment and deployment costs.