For Immediate Release
ATIS 1200 G Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005	Contact: Trish Gessner Phone: 202-434-8851 E-mail: tgessner@atis.org www.atis.org

ATIS Reviewing RFID for Use by Telecom Industry

April 14, 2005, Washington – The ATIS Bar Code/Standard Coding Committee (BCSC) is actively reviewing potential applications of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the telecommunications industry supply chain to determine the need for industry-wide guidelines.

BCSC opened the issue to review RFID technology for its relevance and potential applications within telecommunications as well as to address concerns about its use in Central Offices and other areas where plug-in cards and other inventoried items might be tracked via this technology.

The committee’s review of this issue includes a draft ATIS standard that compares and contrasts RFID technology and reliability versus existing bar code/2D identification systems. The committee is reviewing and developing the draft ATIS standard based on the needs of service providers, manufacturers and the advancement of RFID technology in other industries.

RFID technology has made headway in other sectors, such as the retail, defense, automotive and information technology industries. Most notably, Wal-Mart stores and the U.S. Department of Defense have both recently set policy and guidelines requiring vendors to use RFID technology within their supply chains.

ATIS invites companies with an interest in RFID telecom applications to participate in BCSC activities. For more information contact Maria Estefania at mestefania@atis.org.

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 22 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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