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Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Sept. 20 For Microsoft Corporation, the domain of radio frequency identification is the next big business opportunity.

It is of special significance to a small group of developers at the Microsoft India Development Centre here who conceptualised the Microsoft’s RFID foray about three years ago. Making out a case for RFID, they incubated and developed the entire product and solutions set for the global market.

Microsoft now works with over 100 global partners — hardware, software vendors and system integrators — to offer what was described as the most comprehensive set of solutions spanning a small business establishment to a large dispersed global enterprise.

With the cost of RFID tags coming down from about $3 three years ago to about 5 cents now and readers from about $2,500 to about $300-400, and efforts to streamline supply chain processes, the market is poised for an upswing, said Mr Srini Koppolu, Corporate Vice-President and Managing Director, Microsoft India Development Centre.

This is among several major innovations that Microsoft teams have initiated in India. While during fiscal 2007, MSIDC has thus filed for about 80 patents in all, the centre has filed over 180 patents in the last three years.

Providing insight into how RFID is making inroads into daily life, the Microsoft Principal Product Manager, Mr Balasubramanian Sriram, said that there had been a marked shift in the way enterprises look at RFID now.

Instead of a piece-meal approach, they can look at a comprehensive set of solutions deployed through partners, including system integrators.

At the Microsoft India Development Centre, representatives from HP, TCS, Cognizant, Paxar Americas, converged to showcase how the entire RFID ecosystem can be deployed cost effectively.

These applications have immediate relevance in booming retail market mandated by the likes of Wal-Mart to take to RFID deployments, banking and financial services space and e-Governance applications, Mr Sriram said.

With the possibility of bringing about savings in supply chain costs, in India, manufacturing sector, particularly automotives and in pharmaceuticals, there is a shift towards adopting these technologies. Even in the airline industry, baggage tracking is a big business opportunity, Mr Sriram said.

The cost is likely to go down further with Intel developing a chip for RFID applications. Through the BizTalk server, the entire RFID framework can be connected to other enterprise systems for business intelligence applications, they said.

For Sushi eaters, RFID is not a fishy business! In fact, among the pilot initiatives, Microsoft through its partners has deployed a RFID system in a restaurant chain in the US that serves this Japanese delicacy.

When the restaurant serves this on a dining table with revolving feature, these RFID tags help the chef decide if the customers require fresh replenishments or also remotely analyse as to how many of them are vegetarians to offer them food of their choice.

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