Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Look for Symbol Technologies next week to introduce a mobile Gen2 RFID reader that is designed to be integrated into forklifts, pallet jacks and stretch wrappers. The unit—to be dubbed the RD5000—runs on Windows CE 5.0 and can use Bluetooth. At a cost of about $8,000, though, it’s a tad bit pricey. The vendor will also claim that it saves battery life because it uses sensors to detect the device’s proximity to tagged items, shutting down when motionless or out of tag range.

“Previous RFID deployment strategies have depended heavily on the predictable movement of goods, with RFID readers installed at ‘choke points’ such as dock doors,” said Anthony Bartolo, vice president and general manager of Symbol’s Wireless Infrastructure and RFID Divisions. “By RFID-enabling material handling equipment, organizations gain increased visibility to items in the supply chain all the way to the shelf or staging area.”